


Truth's Little Hero

by hikariisjaejj



Category: EXO (Band), K-pop
Genre: Action, Action/Adventure, Adopted Children, Adventure, Alternate Universe - Science Fiction, Angst with a Happy Ending, Drama, Dysfunctional Family, Established Relationship, Family, Family Fluff, Gore, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Love, M/M, Mild Gore, One Shot, Prequel, Romance, Science Fiction, War, racial undertones, slight post apocalyptic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-19
Updated: 2018-02-19
Packaged: 2019-03-19 16:17:58
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 35,470
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13708092
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hikariisjaejj/pseuds/hikariisjaejj
Summary: When was it justified that war would be the answer? When was it accepted that carnage was justice? When was humanity abandoned for the sake of capital vices?A time comes, when such atrocities happen. However, at the time, people are not so aware of their mistakes. But that does not leave room for forgiveness to be taken lightly and in no way mean their actions were acceptable. But it does not falter the hearts of those who mean their sincerities. There are those who would fight for their mistakes to be corrected and those who would protect the ones they love.As long as those who mean their sincerities stay ahead of time, then there is hope for change. And they'll find themselves surprised to see how small their hope can come.





	Truth's Little Hero

**Author's Note:**

> Minseok and Jongdae pairing with a slight post apocalyptic theme to it. A lot of this is based off the video game Half Life 2 if any of you were interested in getting the setting in your head. And many, many references of World War II used.
> 
> This story is not for the light hearted/squeamish. I will tell you that if you are squeamish with body parts and gore of the such, be prepared to read about it or skip if you don't want to read it. And there is a warning against those who might find themes in this offensive. There's a lot of racial discrimination with the created races and characters
> 
> Also this was written for this contest:  
> EXOplostion Writing Contest - Round Two with this as inspiration: "Just one thing holding us together,   
> A four letter word and it lasts forever" -Mcfly; Love Is On the Radio 
> 
> Pronunciations:  
> Hevin- heev-ihn; Hev- hehv  
> Ethrean- eh-th-ree-an  
> Naechural- nay-shur-all
> 
> I hope you enjoy this ^^;

_“Hold him down! Hold him down!” Left and right, men armed and protected ran to aim at the growing distress._

_Claws scraped and burned, legs kicked with the force of ten men.  Screams of splattering blood painted the walls.  Guards fell one after the other._

_Eyes cold enough to paralyze were blacker than night. What were once teeth now terrorized as fangs, lathered in a coat of red._

_The freezing metal walls echoed with the shrilling screams of death and roaring growls of a growing beast._

_“Take him down! Take him down!”  The captain of the guard yelled, reinforcing his men into line with their weapons._

_A once human figure began to stand back up after being detained, brutally slaughtering those who tried to stop him.  Skin that once used to have a wonderful shade of peach was now gray.  The hunched and tattered figure started to smoke, looking over its shoulders to find a line of fear stricken guards holding long, high voltage tasers._

_“Steady!” The captain yelled._

_“Aim!” An octave higher._

_…_

_Houses ablaze with ferocious lights licked the skies._

_Children and women screamed, begging for their lives to be spared._

_Bodies both young and old lined the streets of the once innocent, unsuspecting town._

_The wind howled, calling for help, yearning for the menace to stop._

_Amidst the flames, a dark figure with nothing but glowing eyes and horns stood long in the wreckage.  Its eyes endless, a string of pain and suffering following its every move._

**○** ✣ **○**

“Jongdae.” A soft whisper in Jongdae’s ear stirred him to life. “Jongdae.” The voice came a little more playful this time, leaving a soft kiss on his ear.

“Ten more minutes.” Jongdae grumbled as he turned over in his sheets.

“The sun has been up for more than an hour, we have to get going, Jongdae.”

“Please? Just a little longer.”

Before Jongdae could relax into his must filled sheets again, he was rolled over and stripped clean of his warmth.

“Minseok!” Jongdae screamed as Minseok giggled at him.

“I told you to get up. Come on, I made rabbit stew for breakfast.” Minseok stood to his feet and crawled out of the small tent the two shared.

“Oh! Did the trap we made work?” Jongdae flung his body from the remaining sheets at the bottom of the tent and made his way outside.

The bright morning light shining through the edge of the forest blinded him for a split second, but the view of Minseok’s crouching figure gave the brightest smile to his cheeks.

“Smells great.”  He took a place seated next to Minseok and watched as he stirred the cloudy looking soup.

“You say that about all my cooking.” Minseok rolled his eyes and banged his wooden spoon on the side of the tin pot. “Can you get the plates?”

Jongdae complied by making his way behind the tent to pick up their water and bowls.

The two ate their breakfast like every morning since they were put into this situation.  Quiet and full of soft murmurs of their day ahead. Jongdae never quite liked the days spent in complete silence.  He knew Minseok wasn’t the talkative type, but he loved the sound of his voice and tried to utilize every moment he could listening to it.

The two had set up camp there, five days prior.  They figured it was now time to move on and search for life once more.

“Man, I need a bath…” Jongdae mumbled as he caught whiffs of his underarms.

“When was the last time we were clean?” Minseok mumbled to himself as he rolled the bed sheets into compact pieces. “A week and a half?”

“I think we’ve gone longer.” Jongdae chuckled to himself as he began packing the sheets into a book bag.

“Then should we look for a river?”

“How about a town?” Said Jongdae rather sarcastically.

“Chances are, none of the houses will have running water.”

“Damn it, I forgot about that.”

“So should we search the forest?” Minseok asked as he looked into the green foliage behind them. “Or did you want to wait a couple more days?”

Jongdae looked Minseok up and down, something a little more than _showering_ on his mind that he hadn’t done in a while.

“It couldn’t hurt to look for something.” Jongdae suggested nonchalantly. “I mean we don’t have much else to do.” He shrugged.

“While you are correct, we are also low on supplies. We need to find a town for clean water to drink and more canned foods.”

“Just suck out all the fun why don’t you.” Jongdae mumbled to himself.

Minseok simply rolled his eyes. “Fine. We’ll search for half the day.  If we don’t find anything after that, we come back here for the night again, and continue down this path to another town.”

“Really?!” Jongdae beamed with excitement.

“Yeah. That way we can just leave our stuff here.”

“Are you sure you want to leave this unattended to?”

“I mean, it’s not like someone’s going to come by and steal from us.  We just have to lock it up in the tent to keep animals away.” Minseok said as he finished placing a few items inside the tent. “We’ll take the canisters and dirty pans to wash. And clothes. We should bring those, too.”

“How about the blankets?”

“Do you think we should?”

“I mean we don’t have enough soap to clean them off, really.”

“But we also don’t have any for our clothes.”

“Yeah, but we wear these all the time. This soaks our sweat and B.O.”

“Then we’ll leave the blankets.” Minseok grimaced as he placed a few more items in their tent. “Remind me to pick up detergent in the next town we’re in. We should make a list. We have to get a lot of things and the list just keeps growing.”

“Yeah! And we should look for a car, too. My legs weren’t meant for all this walking.” Jongdae snickered as he handed the last few items to Minseok.

“Oh hush you.  You’re in better shape than I am.”

“Okay, yeah, and? I’m not the one with a doctorate.”

Minseok furrowed his eyebrows with a confused smile. “What argument did you just try fighting me on?”  
“It means you’re smart enough to calculate distances and know nutritional things.”

Minseok began stuffing clothes into an empty book bag. “No. It means I’ve spent more time in a chair than you have, studying.  Besides, I’m not that kind of doctor.”  
“You can be any kind of doctor you set out to be.” Jongdae wrapped his arms around Minseok’s neck.

“Why are you such a block head? Come on, get your stuff. I’m not carrying it for you.” Minseok chuckled as he pried.

“But it’s true! My little pumpkin can be whatever he wants!” Jongdae exclaimed as he grabbed his own bag.

Minseok’s jaw dropped and stared at Jongdae in bewilderment. “Where on earth did this sudden overly sweet Jongdae come from?”

Jongdae shrugged. “Didn’t you once say you were a secret hopeless romantic?”

“Like a year ago.”

“Well a year ago, I wasn’t exactly sane.”

“Then what about the last couple of months we’ve had together? Why weren’t you all sweet and sugary then?”

Jongdae went to speak but found nothing wanted to come out.

“Speaking of which, how long have we been out here anyways?” He eventually asked.

“I’m not exactly sure.  I gave up counting after four months.”

“How long ago was that?”

“I don’t know. A while ago… Closer to when we were attacked by those stray dogs.”

Jongdae stopped in his tracks before following Minseok into the forest. “That was a really long time ago.”

“Yeah, which means it’s gonna start getting cold soon. The trees are starting to turn, so we either need to find a permanent residence for the winter and soon or we wing it until we find a town closer to the first snow fall.”

 

“I was afraid of that.” Jongdae frowned as he followed in step with Minseok.

The two walked for a good two hours, not finding any sign of water.  Minseok was weak, much weaker than the beginning of their journey.  He could never admit this to Jongdae, though. Last thing they needed was to worry about a sick person, on top of not knowing when their next meal was or if they’ll have a place to stay dry and warm for the night.

The days were definitely getting darker faster and colder in the night. Autumn was upon the traveling pair and it worried Minseok to death.  He glanced over to Jongdae, noticing the stoic expression he wore. He was catching on, Minseok could feel it. He could feel that Jongdae was catching on to his fatigue.  They were traveling unbearably slow, Jongdae usually traveled a few feet ahead to scout out the land. Not this time, Jongdae was barely walking a step further.

“Wait.” Jongdae paused and sniffed the air. “I smell water.” Minseok did the same.

“Actually… I do, too… Can you hear any running water?”  He asked a little breathless.

“Hold on.” Jongdae closed his eyes and concentrated on all the surrounding noises.

“Don’t tap in too deep.” Minseok said quickly and lowly, earning no response from Jongdae.

“There!” Jongdae opened his eyes and scared Minseok to an extent he feared would happen.  His eyes were a different color.  Jongdae grabbed Minseok’s hand and led them far into the forest on unscathed fallen leaves.

He followed in a rush, choosing not to say anything and let Jongdae lead him.

The ground was quickly getting looser and looser.  His once sturdy boots were soaking into the mud the closer they got to their destination.

“Well, I mean at least its water.” Jongdae said as he came to an abrupt stop.

Minseok panicked and quickly stepped forward to get a look at his face. When he noticed everything was fine, he sighed in relief.  He kept silent, taking in the small creek that ran in front of the two.  It was quaint, but the soothing sounds of mini waterfalls and chirping birds made the scenario all the more better.

“I bet if we follow the current down we’ll find more.  Or at least a creek.” Minseok inferred.

“You don’t think it’s contaminated?”

“I dunno.  Maybe. But the rain water we’ve been catching lately hasn’t been highly radioactive.”

“So it couldn’t hurt to follow, right?”

“No… And we haven’t spent long out, so let’s go.”

The two started their trek once more, this time following the small stream.  Minseok was anxious the entire time, keeping a watchful eye on Jongdae.  Sometime through their journey, Minseok found his hand firmly placed in Jongdae’s.  It comforted him, but he couldn’t help but worry.

“I want to get you a new watch.” Jongdae said much out of the blue.

“W-Why?”

“Because your old one broke. And I know how special it was to you.”

“…Oh! No don’t worry about it.  You know its fine.”

“Min…?” Jongdae became a little weary.

“Yes, Dae?”

“Did I…? Did I break your watch?”

Minseok tensed and accidentally clenched on Jongdae’s hand a little tighter.  Everything suddenly became awkward as Minseok stayed silent.  He didn’t know what to say. Should he lie? Or tell the truth?  At his particular situation it seemed as if lying would be a bad idea—he’d be caught in a heartbeat.

“Um…”

Minseok froze when Jongdae brought them to sudden stop at the top of a hill like slope.  The two stared down the side of the stream and watched as it turned into something much larger, at least a decent sized creek. Rocks scattered the water with a layer of moss, even larger rocks basing the outside of the creek.  A clearing was spread overhead, letting the sun to shine right through the space that the leaves provided.

“This is perfect…” Minseok mumbled to himself, looking up at Jongdae in the process. The slight glance of disappointment hadn’t gone unnoticed to him but was quickly changed into a playful smirk.

“Last one down’s a rotten lab rat!” Jongdae released his grip on Minseok and began to race down the side of the hill; sliding in the dead leaves that lined the ground. 

A pang of guilt slowly washed over Minseok’s heart as he watched the male run down the slope. 

“Whoa! Look at this Minseok!” The excited male yelled to the one still stuck on top.

“What is it?”

“The entire area right here is eroded and has this awesome miniature waterfall running through it!”

“Is that what that sound was?” Minseok replied, trying to make light of the situation again, more so for his sake than anything.

“This is so cool, look at it! The water’s so clear!” Jongdae began to hurriedly strip from his clothes at the base of the creek.

“Yeah, and the bottom has nothing but dirt and sediment stuck at it.” Minseok seemed almost appalled by the sight, but began removing his clothes—much slower than the excited twelve year old-like man in front of him.

“Oh don’t be a sourpuss. It’s a natural thing of nature.” Minseok ignored Jongdae and took out his Geiger counter to inspect the surrounding water.  It was a special object, small enough to fit in a pocket with an attached box. He paused when he noticed that Jongdae threw his clothes in a piled heap before jumping into the water.

“Hey!” Minseok yelled, causing Jongdae to stop mid jump. “What do you think you’re doing? You better wash your clothes first! They’ll take all day to dry!”

“Ughhhh! But come on! I don’t even have soap to wash them in!”

“It’s better than dirtying the water up and washing your clothes in muddy water.”

Minseok neatly put away his instrument and folded his shirt tidily in his hands; doing the same with Jongdae’s clothes.  Jongdae, on the other hand, pouted and grumbled just like the twelve year old personality he possessed and snatched the clothes from him.

The two brought their bags full of dirty and stained laundry to the part of the creek with running water.  Jongdae grimaced the entire time as he mimicked the wringing and slapping movements Minseok did with his own clothes.  He complained the entire time as a kid over chores and whined even more when Minseok hadn’t removed his own pants.

Minseok smiled softly to himself every time Jongdae complained and whined over him.  Trying his best to hide the warm feelings that surged his heart whenever Jongdae looked at him.  If he showed too much emotion it would encourage Jongdae to keep acting like a twelve year old, and he couldn’t have that.  And, he was just too proud to admit how he was really feeling.

Jongdae would enjoy to say he didn’t rush through his washing, but anyone with common sense would beg to differ.  The act annoyed Minseok to an extent, but he couldn’t help have his heart flutter at Jongdae’s childish behavior. When Jongdae ‘finished’ his clothes, he waited patiently for Minseok to finish his and danced a bit in the waterfall; splashing Minseok in all sorts of ways.

Minseok was a little less than pleased with this act, but kept to scrubbing the grime out his clothes with much enthusiasm.

“You know, if we ever get a house when this is all over.  You’d make a great wife.”

“Excuse me?” Minseok scoffed, nearly slamming his hands on his lap.

“I’m serious! Just look at you, you’d do all the cooking and cleaning and stuff.  I’d… Well I’d stay home and watch you do everything and do the manual labor… Like hunt and stuff.” Jongdae gasped. “Maybe I shouldn’t shave my beard! That way I can get the full manly effect.” Jongdae got excited and started to flail his limbs in the small waterfall.

“When you get down from there I’m going to punch you so hard in the gut. But please, do not skip shaving.  I do not want to see how awful your face will look if you do.”

Jongdae had begun to pretend he was removing soap from his body, as if taking a real shower. He gasped after listening to Minseok’s words. “You don’t mean that! You’re supposed to love and support me in anything I do.” Jongdae smirked playfully again, this time leaving the waterfall to walk up behind Minseok’s unsuspecting figure.

“Then you should love and support me too! I’m not going to be a wife and I’m not going to clean and bid to your every whim you jerk. I’m going to make my own study and start research again. I’m going to write books and do all that I want with equal share in household chores!” Minseok had been about to turn around and scold Jongdae more, but was met with an abrupt and overly wet hug. “Ah!”

Jongdae squeezed extra firmly and laughed terribly hard at Minseok’s rather cute squeal.

“Kim Jongdae it’s cold!” Minseok screamed as he shot up from his seat on a medium sized rock next to the rushing water. Jongdae simply laughed as he backed away.

Minseok would tease Jongdae, making the latter think he was going to attack him with a tackle but ended up faking the movements every time.

“You know I was kidding, right? I’d let you sit in a chair all day and let you get so big you couldn’t see past your chin.” Jongdae grabbed Minseok’s arm before the male could proceed with another fake attempt at an attack.

Minseok’s cheeks fired, making him search for an answer in Jongdae’s eyes. Instead of smiling sweetly back to Minseok, Jongdae took his chance to smack Minseok’s behind and run off to the pooled water area.

“Ugh! Jongdae!”  Minseok groaned loudly after the male as he rubbed his stinging butt.  The smack wasn’t gentle or anything, it was hard, on top of having soaked wet pants.

Minseok stayed behind and grumbled to himself over Jongdae as he finished washing his clothes.  Making sure to take extra-long before he went over to the male and possibly near drown him.

As Minseok gathered all the wet clothes to sun dry, he was met with a completely soaked Jongdae.

“There you are!  I was wondering why you were taking so long!” Jongdae grabbed onto Minseok’s wrist and started to pull him toward their miniature campsite.

“Hey, help me lay these out in the sun before you go back in.”  Jongdae gladly complied and took a handful of clothes. He began to lay them on top of the decently cleaned rocks that sat in the sun.

“It’s about noon, so we’ll set up a fire to make some canned corn and those mini sausages we stocked up on.”

“When did you pack food?!  I completely forgot.”

Minseok giggled, “I always have spare food packed in our bags.  Just in case something happens and we have to scram.”

“So that’s why they feel heavier than they actually are.” Jongdae gasped in realization, earning a smile from Minseok.

Jongdae watched as Minseok finished laying their clothes in the sun with a soft smile on his own features, waiting patiently to jump into the creek to wash each other.

Minseok finished with a satisfied sigh and rub of his hands on his bare hips.

“Have I ever told you how beautiful you are?” Jongdae smiled brightly as he grabbed Minseok by the waist and pressed him flush against his own body.

“A-A couple times.”  Minseok flushed—more like flushed on his entire body—refusing to look Jongdae in the eyes.

“I should say it more often, then. Because you truly are beautiful.” Jongdae’s smile widened even more, if it were even possible in Minseok’s head. His own eyebrows were furrowed, completely embarrassed being fully naked against each other, but enjoying the charge Jongdae was taking.

Jongdae leaned down and claimed Minseok’s lips.  And like every time before, his breath was drawn from his very being and casted into a vacuum like space.  He could never breathe when he was entranced in a kiss with Jongdae and it was a magical experience every time they engaged in their lip locks.

“I’ll wash you if you wash me.” Jongdae whispered on Minseok’s lips.

“Deal.” Minseok smirked as he reached up to peck Jongdae’s lips before searching for their bar of soap.

The two messed around as a pair of teenage boys on an outing together. Jongdae shoved Minseok flush into the water when the male refused to step any further into the semi-freezing water. Leaving Jongdae to drag him in and wrestle him to the playful death. They laughed and giggled at each other, splashing and kicking at each other in the silliest of fashions.  They were as two young lads, lost in their own little world, without a care to think twice about.

Minseok took initiative and washed Jongdae first, making sure to scrub extra well, knowing (and sort of hoping) they would end their water antics in a bit of additional fun.  Minseok was a little weary when it was Jongdae’s turn to wash him; he was afraid of Jongdae’s teasing hands. 

And just as he feared, Jongdae was rough in certain areas (particularly near his rear) and smacked it every so often. 

It wasn’t until Jongdae started to trace up Minseok’s back did he slow down and savor each moment. Making sure to knead the soft spots with extra care.  His head lulled back at the sensation, letting it over take him. Jongdae made his way to Minseok’s chest and ran the bar of soap over him with care as he stood behind him. Nuzzling his nose in the crook of Minseok’s neck as he stroked one of his arms and used the other to wash his stomach.

Minseok’s chest rose with the overwhelming sensation.  It’d been a while since they’d done something like this and he was a little more than ready to relieve a good amount of stress.

“You’re very tense, you know.” Jongdae lowered his voice to something huskier, sending a shiver through Minseok’s spine.

“Mm.” Minseok replied courtly as Jongdae rubbed in all the right ways.

He left a tender kiss on Minseok’s neck and sucked lightly on the pale spot, earning a soft moan from Minseok’s lips.

“Oo, you’re eager aren’t you.”

“Oh shut up.” Minseok said breathlessly.

“You’re not gonna say that later when I’m taking you… Up for a second bath later?” Jongdae smiled as he stopped running the bar of soap on Minseok’s body and turned to his face.

“That can be arranged.”

The two eventually gathered on the side of the creek, against a bare bolder jutting out; half their legs still submerged. It was a fierce battle of dominance between the two, not wanting one to be dominated over the other.  But Minseok eventually gave in and let Jongdae take charge.  Everything almost seemed perfect, minus the scrapping his back did against the rock.  But it was well worth his euphoria.  Their breathes met in a harmony that almost felt sloppy, and mutters of each other’s names lingering in the cool, early autumn air. It was rough and a little unpleasant, yet well-deserved on either end. They had been yearning for each other’s touch for a long time.

The sun had been long gone from mid-day, leaving them in round two of their intimate dance together.  They had taken their new positioning on the side of the bank, using the comfort of leaves to act as their surface.  This time around was beautiful. Minseok loved nothing more than this.  The slow rhythm of their bodies, treasuring each moment and pouring their heart’s content into everything they had in this one.  Minseok could barely keep up with his breathing, knowing full well his lungs could collapse at any moment but that hadn’t stopped him.  The two called each other’s names in melodious songs. Breathing in each other, drinking up every minute they spent engrossed. This was what Minseok liked to call _making love_. This was what he wished could happen more often than not, it made him feel alive and yet numb to everything around him besides the man taking him.

It was just him and Jongdae. 

Jongdae and him. 

He wanted it to be like that forever.

Yet his heart tugged. Tearing into all sorts of directions. Guilt lingered. And suffering began to engulf his heart.

 **○** ✣ **○**

_Screams filled the small room, putrid sounds of blood curdling fear reverberated in the ears of those in the room.  Nothing was done to stop the screams or to sooth them._

_“Why are you doing this to me?!”_

_Flashes of white cloaks and green rubber gloves took the eyes of the ones who were cowards. Stoic faces of elder men to young, burned into the decaying memories._

_Lifeless, dark circular goggles took the shape of everything.  Haunting everywhere they stepped._

_Bones crushing from all different parts of the body were felt by everyone in the room._

_Drills the size of fingers punctured the crippled body, all the way from each phalange in the body’s toes to its very eye socket.  Injecting a black metallic like liquid._

_Tears of crimson ran in streaks on the victim’s face. Screams and gurgles of pain turned into choked gasps. The body began to seize, not able to take in the level of pain being done._

_A dark shadow loomed over head, watching each and every single person in the room.  Laughing and furthering the horror that ate away at the victim and those who could not bear the sight._

_Aspiring helpers of the state all gathered in the two way mirrors above, watching in awe at the scene before them. Yet vomit was the only thing that could come to the mind of one._

_The smell of iron and excrements filled the nostrils of those in the room, making everything all the more nauseating._

_The body fell limp._

_Foam leaked from the victim’s mouth, the pants stained clear as day with urine and splatters of blood._

_“He’s going into cardiac arrest!”_

_“Get the defib!”_

_“Oxygen! He needs oxygen.”_

_Everything rushed. Panic rose, the body hadn’t stirred despite all the pressure applied._

_Nothing worked. No injections, no resuscitations, no means of medical treatment brought the body back.  It was only a matter of time—the body had endured much more than just that day’s nightmare._

_Death settled in the room. Only one guilty conscience took a corner to release stomach nerves._

_Savagery. Pure cruelty had been done. And the deed could not be rewound._

_Not until the looming shadow in the room disappeared and a breath rose in the middle of the room._

**○** ✣ **○**

“Your back is all scathed... I’m sorry.” Jongdae frowned as the two walked back to their campsite on the other side of the forest. Both walked back shirtless, sort of embracing their intimacy together in this sense.

“What?” Minseok looked over his shoulder to see the scratches. “Ah don’t worry about it. It’s nothing.”

“Are you sure? I think you need ointment for that. They’re pretty raw.” Jongdae’s face slowly turned more and more into worry.

“It’s seriously fine! …It’s the least I deserve.” Minseok whispered the last part, too low for Jongdae to pick up.  It had been more of a mumbled, breathless sigh against his lips than anything vocal.

“What’d you say?”

“I didn’t say anything.”

“Min. I’m serious. I don’t want that getting infected.”

“It won’t get infected, just leave it.”

“Minseok!” Jongdae grabbed his shoulder and yanked him around. “I seriously don’t want you to get hurt. We don’t know what could have been on those rocks, and you just got infected. While we were having a great time.”

“You pee’d in the water didn’t you?”

Jongdae was taken aback and reddened. “W-Well, maybe, y-yea—”

“Then it’s also possible a parasite found its way into your urethra while it was open. So we’re even.” Minseok smiled an overly friendly smile and patted Jongdae’s shoulder.

“W-Wait..” Minseok left the dazed Jongdae to walk down the designated path. Jongdae in turn looked down at his pants, checking for any abnormalities.

For the rest of their walk Jongdae pleaded to know how and why such a thing was possible, but Minseok kept his lips sealed. He chuckled internally to watch the male suffer; nothing out of disdain, but shear amusement.

Both of the bantering males eventually made their way back to their campsite at sundown. Exhausted from their journey and ready to call it a day.  But, they were willing to lay in the grass of the fields just in front of their tent to watch the sun set and stars come out. The sky hadn’t a single cloud all day, leaving the males to know that the night would be magical.

They set their traps up, hoping to catch a rabbit or another small critter willing to fall for their sad excuse of a snare.  Their bags were packed and ready to go for the next day worth of traveling, only leaving a few things to finish up in the morning after breakfast.

“Do you think we should look for a house soon?” Minseok asked in a hushed voice as he played with the long strands of Jongdae’s growing hair. The two were comfortably laid on the ground, Jongdae’s arm protectively wrapped around Minseok’s shoulders as they nestled each other.

The sky was a beautiful mixture of soft pastel lilac’s with spots of gold and the over growing midnight blue with specks of shimmering silver lights overhead. The silver lights would pop up more and more every time one of the boy’s decided to look away for a split second. The birds sang their last goodbyes for the day and goodnight lullaby’s with the dull addition of crickets in the background. Lightning bugs poking out, little by little, as the night furthered.

“I think it would be wise to do so.” Jongdae answered with just as much husk. “It’s definitely getting colder. Compared to the humidity that we used to get, these days are perfect.”

Minseok hummed in response.

“I think we should look for at least two more towns until we finalize a home.”

“And look for a map.  We really need a new map.”

“That too.  I’ll add it to our list.” Minseok slowly began to find sleep starting to overcome his eyes. The thought of all the walking they would do tomorrow was enough to make him wish he could sleep and never wake up.

“I think we’re in September.”

“What makes you say that?” Jongdae craned his neck to look down at Minseok.

“Because my mother and I used to stargaze a lot when I was younger. She would always say, “There’s nothing like a September sky.” I never understood what it meant when I was younger, but now that I’ve gotten older, I’ve most definitely grasped the concept. The sky is always the bluest and most vibrant. The sunsets are always the most beautiful, almost like specks of lava… I mean you can find beautiful days anytime of the year, but there’s always just been something special about September to me.  That’s why I think we’re in September, these past days have been special.”

Minseok had taken to watching the sky and left Jongdae’s locks. Jongdae on the other hand needed time to process all that Minseok had let out.  There was truth behind what he said, and yet he needed to fully grasp the concept before responding.  But after fully taking the thought in, he realized a response wasn’t need.  Nothing but a soft kiss was all the he could manage on Minseok’s forehead.

They retired to the tent after spending more than enough time to count at least seven constellations each.  Most of which Minseok had taught to Jongdae during their journey. The night sky was gorgeous now that it was just the two of them.  There were never any lights coming from any direction anymore, thus not blocking out the many stars that so yearned to shine.

Both found sleep relatively quickly. Minseok was the last to actually fall asleep, so caught up being in his own thoughts.  It was peculiar thing, he was so ready to sleep just nuzzled into Jongdae’s side under the stars.  Yet now that he was in bed, his mind raced thoughts he wished left long ago.  But eventually, the racing mind found sleep unexpectedly, just like every night before.

 **○** ✣ **○**

_“You’ve taken quite the liking to your test subject, haven’t you?” An older doctor of at least fifty chuckled._

_“I might have. He is in a word,_ perfect _.”_

_…_

_“Why do you stare at me?”_

_“I’m sorry?”_

_“Don’t hide it, I see you stare at me.”_

_“I must. I am obligated to do so.” The doctor scanned his eyes up and down the naked body. “Your body is without a doubt, perfect.”_

_“I’m flattered.”_

_“And yet, here I am... Why would anyone want to change an already perfect body? There is nothing to change or improve.” He spoke to himself, pondering everything he had been told in his life._

_“You do what you must. And I willingly offered myself. I hope there aren’t second thoughts?”_

_“Of course not.” The doctor let a hand glide down the arm and leg of his patient sprawled out on the table. “I just hope you’re prepared to make this room your permanent home for a couple years.”_

_“I’m as ready as I’ll ever be.” The patient sighed and leaned his head back into the bed. “When do the tests start?”_

_“Tomorrow. You’ll be moved away and installed into your first round of testing.” The doctor took a few small notes as he took the vitals of his patient._

_“Greaaaat. How wonderful… Will you be there?”_

_“I’m head doctor of this project. I’ve conducted all theories and research leading up to this moment. I’ll be at every testing session you are included in.”_

**○** ✣ **○**

Two weeks had all it been for the boys to come across two neighboring towns.  A map had been found in the first, showing all the surrounding towns and paths that lead to each. They were able to finally pick out a decent route before winter choose to kick in. They also decided they would make it to a small town near the boarders of Naechural and choose a house to live in there.

Naechural, the awaited land of promise to everyone apart of the war. The neutral country that people escaped to, to get away from the horrors of war. Those who had never been to the country were told stories of the cities. They were said to be of pure gold, so that went the sun reflected off the buildings, it blinded them. Those who had been to the city always made sure to return and tell everyone the beauty of the country. Fields of green, mountains of blue, farms full to the brim with life. It was a magical place that people usually ever got to hear of and see in films, never really able to grasp the place in their own hands.

The houses that bordered the country there were the most ideal to live in, without having running water or electricity. It was a town known to be rural and full of wildlife. Most houses there have fireplaces or woodstoves, making it idyllic to last the winter in warm conditions. 

In the second town they raided, they picked out jackets to wear over their hoodies as the days progressively became colder at night and in the morning. Life was slow for the two, not having anything to run from other than the impending winter that started after them. And the worry of never having enough food in their packs to keep them satisfied.  They had taken all they could from the abandoned supermarkets, but they could only stay so long in the smells of rotting meats and molding fruits and vegetables.

It hadn’t been until one of their chosen paths had accidentally taken them through a forest in the town of Talnae.  It was once a public park, known to the surrounding people to have trails for hiking and biking of the sort.  But these were trails that had been long since traveled.  The grounds no longer carried footprints, only of the occasional passing wild life.

The map showed a river passing in the middle of the park, leaving it a great idea to set up camp just to the side of the path and wait for the next day to search for their destination. 

“We’re getting close to enemy territory.”

“Enemy territory? They live on a whole ‘nother continent.” Minseok exclaimed as he stirred the contents of two boiling tin pots.

“Yeah, but a lot of them live in these areas.”

“First off, they’re immigrants or refugees who tried escaping from their country years ago and second, they aren’t the enemy. They’re just as innocent as you.”

Jongdae was silent for the moment, letting Minseok’s words speak the truth.

“You’re innocent like them too, you know.”

“Jongdae, I am not having this conversation with you.”

“Well it’s not like you can exactly avoid it!” Said Jongdae with a bit of exasperation.

Minseok bit his bottom lip and closed his eyes, trying everything in his power to keep from responding to him.

“Ugh!” Jongdae, in the end, stood from his spot across the campfire and stormed off into the woods.  Minseok would have raised his voice and warned him about wondering too far, but he knew it would be best to let the male blow off steam.  If he stayed out longer than after the sun had fully set, that was when he was going to panic.

But Minseok waited.  He waited for Jongdae to return despite having been tired from their journey over. The sun had set a while ago and it was chilly out. He had been wrapped in a blanket with his hoodie up and hands in front of the fire.  He wasn’t going to go to sleep until he knew that Jongdae would come back safely.

However, when Jongdae had finally returned, he ignored Minseok’s existence completely and stormed into the tent.

Minseok sighed, knowing that it would be a long night.  He wondered if it would even be a good idea to go into the tent for the night.  They weren’t going to sleep close to each other, so what might be the point? That sense of doubt overtook Minseok’s thoughts; he decided not to enter the tent for a while, at least until he was sure Jongdae would be asleep.

But in the act, he found himself curled next to the fire, teeth chattering and bones shaking. The part about all this that Minseok found upsetting, was that it wasn’t really cold out. He was just so unbearably frail and weak now that they were out in the wild, making everything go right through him.

After minutes spent shivering and breathing heavily, he was surprised when two firm hands grabbed his ankles and started to drag him.  He let out a shriek and quickly looked up to find a rather annoyed Jongdae dragging him into the tent through the dimly lit campfire.

“Just because I’m upset doesn’t mean you can’t sleep with me.”

The tent was zipped and Minseok was left on his backside using his elbows to crane his neck up.

“What about the fire—”

“It’ll go out eventually, just come to bed.”

Minseok gladly complied and crawled into his spot on Jongdae’s left.  His back was faced away, leaving Minseok to stare blankly at the back of it while he curled his body to regain the heat once again.

It almost seemed as if Jongdae snickered without visibly doing the act as he turned over to grab hold of Minseok and bring him close to his chest.

“You’re still breathing heavy.” He said to justify his actions. Minseok, however, didn’t care one bit as to why he was forced into the embrace.  He just wanted to curl closely to the male to find comfort for a good long while.

Jongdae brought their blankets over and covered Minseok and him accordingly.  The act was sweet and enough to make him stare dumbly at the sleeping male.

“Just close your eyes.” Jongdae said, trying to sound annoyed at the fact Minseok still wasn’t sleeping.

After a beat or two of waiting, Jongdae opened his eyes and was greeted with the soft features of the sleeping male in front of him.  As if the roles reversed, he frowned, bringing a tender hand to the cheeks of Minseok’s face. He missed the fullness they once possessed, but they were still beautiful nonetheless.

He left a soft kiss on Minseok’s lips, silently wishing him a goodnight; despite their previous dispute. 

…

Morning came and both males were equally reluctant to leave their beds. If it hadn’t been for Jongdae’s extensive use of a toilet, the two might have stayed curled up all morning.  But that was not the case.  Instead, they packed their laundry again with the small amount of detergent they had. The last town even provided several hygienic products for them, letting them take off into the woods down a barren trail with hopes for a cleanly river bath.  They had an idea of where they were going, but not all too sure if it was completely right.

They were silent this time, a few feet apart yet relatively close.  Minseok was tired still, his body was a bit stiff and his back was itchy again.  His back had been itchy for the last two weeks and he had a hunch as to why. He just never wanted Jongdae to find out.  It was the last thing he wanted them to worry about, and it was honestly one of the last things they should worry about, in his own opinion.

Jongdae was jumpy, that was clear as day to Minseok. Every little sound of nature made him flinch to be on constant guard. He had been so focused on everything else around them that he hadn’t even taken the time to notice Minseok needed a breather.  It took all of the air left in Minseok’s lungs to finally call out Jongdae’s name. But even then, it took Jongdae a good few seconds to turn around and respond.

With a jolt, Jongdae turned on his heels and widened his eyes when Minseok was no longer in plain sight.

“Minseok!” He yelled out. “Where are you?!”

“I’m here, Jong…”

Jongdae took his feet as fast as they could take him and found himself next to Minseok.  He was seated on the side of a rock that had been covered by a thorn bush.

“What’s the matter, are you hurt?” Jongdae inspected Minseok’s every crevice. He lifted both arms and checked his mouth, trying to overlook the defeated look on Minseok’s face.

“Nothing, I just need a moment to rest.”

“Oh…” Jongdae was almost taken aback, forgetting that Minseok often had to take a moment of rest every once in a while.

Jongdae left a comforting hand on Minseok’s knee as he waited for the male to breathe correctly. He was still on guard though, stroking Min’s knee with a soft touch whilst very much alert to their surroundings.

“I think… I-I think I have asthma.” Jongdae shot his head back to Minseok and furrowed his eyebrows. “I-I mean… I have all the symptoms. But there’s no definite way to tell without a real doctor to diagnose it.”

“Why? What’s the matter?”

“I think I was having an asthma attack. It was hard to breathe in and my chest was pounding, I got really red in the face and felt light headed… And I wheeze a lot lately.”

“How are you right now? Do you want to stop? Because we don’t have an inhaler and I’m not having you drop dead on me.”

“I’m fine, it’s nothing serious. I just need to breathe every once in a while.”

“Min, how long have you been like this?” Jongdae placed a hand on Minseok’s cheek.

“I’ve been breathing weird for a while now, you know that. But I’ve been getting the suspicions, just recently, of having asthma.”

“So you weren’t keeping this from me for a while now?”

“No.”

“Promise?”

“Promise.” Minseok smiled weakly to Jongdae, giving him the small amount of reassurance he could manage. “Come on, I feel better. I wanna get moving as soon as possible.”

The two males took to their path once again; this time hand in hand to make sure no one would fall behind. It was a nice walk this time round. The tension wasn’t high and there was small talk of finding the next town soon and search old pharmacies for possible medication.

It wasn’t until Jongdae stopped dead in his tracks did he catch Minseok off his guard.

“What?” Minseok looked around, trying to look for whatever Jongdae was picking out. “What do you smell?” After a moment of watching Jongdae sniff the air, he slowly watched his eyes turn into something he rather resented. “Jongdae!”

“I smell death.” He said flatly, Minseok froze.

“Jongdae, stop it. Don’t smell it. Come back to me.” Minseok tugged on Jongdae’s arm and pulled him in the opposite direction.

A twisted grin began to grow on Jongdae’s face as he started to lead Minseok away. He very much did not want to follow, it was apparent in the way he would fight back and resist the strength of Jongdae’s grasp, but the intensity was too much.

He was dragged over branches and fallen trees, not cared for in the slightest with the grip on his wrist tightening more and more.  Minseok tried to fight Jongdae’s hold, but the more he would do so would earn him additional pain.

Minseok was breathing heavy; mentally and physically tired of being dragged away by Jongdae, and a little frightened at the same time.  What were they going to find? Dead animals? A burial of human carcasses? Minseok couldn’t smell anything so it was something less then what he was anticipating. But it was enough to make him worry.

Jongdae had finally stopped. The sound of crunching leaves had ceased, only the heaves of Minseok’s chest were heard as a small boy screamed at the top of his lungs. The small thing swung sticks at Jongdae’s shins and thighs, hitting him with all his might. Jongdae simply stared at the small thing that bat at his legs, as if every ounce of condescending resonated from him.

As the kid screamed and swung his arms his eyes shut tight and fists brooded with white with fury. Minseok took notice of the larger body in front of them.  The body was laid on the ground, female.  Her skin was gray as grubs and ants slowly took her body.  Layers of green formed in the corner of her mouth mixed in with a bit of blue as veins protruded in every way. 

The stench was getting to Minseok’s nose, he covered it quickly with his sleeve as he released Jongdae’s grip from his wrist. As Minseok went to inspect the body before them Jongdae took his foot and pushed the kid down on his chest. It was hard, and most unpleasant for the child. But the child was so struck by the sudden force on his chest and bottom that he couldn’t even find the voice in himself to cry. Instead he began to cough heavily and hyperventilate when he could finally grasp hold of reality.

“Jongdae!” Minseok pushed Jongdae off to the side, taking notice that his eyes were still terrifying.  “Hey there, you’re alright.” Minseok’s soothing voice took the child by surprise and he scurried backwards as Minseok came to greet him on the ground.  “I don’t mean you any harm, little one. Please let me see your chest.” The boy panicked and scrambled to his feet, fleeing away from the sudden strangers.

Minseok stood to his feet and watched as the child fled, hiding behind a tree too far for Minseok to chase after. The kid had a head of bright yellow, it was different for a Hev, thought Minseok.

“Jongdae, that was unforgivable!” When he turned around he was met with Jongdae hovering over the dead body, inspecting every inch of the girl’s face. “Jongdae!” Minseok ran over to him and tackled him to the ground.  He’d never seen Jongdae in this kind of state before and he wasn’t about to let him get his way.

Minseok tried his hardest to keep the male detained but found that Jongdae’s force was still too much.  It wasn’t long until Minseok couldn’t hold it in any longer and tears started to stream down his face.  He was frustrated, oh so very frustrated.

A loud smack echoed in the forest, pausing everything around them but their heaving chests.  Birds flew in all sorts of directions, bolting from the premise as the passing evil flew out.

“I’m sorry… I’m sorry..” Said Minseok breathlessly as he sat on Jongdae’s torso, straddling him to the ground.

Jongdae’s hand had found his own cheek, astonished at the sudden pain.

“Why are you crying?!” Jongdae strung his hands out and lifted his abdomen to cup Minseok’s face.

“I’m not. I was just overwhelmed.” Minseok said with a hint of resentment.

“Minseok…” Jongdae wiped the tears from Minseok’s face. “Did I… Hurt you?”

“No, I’m fine..” Minseok slowly began to get up. “But you hurt a little boy.”

“I know.. I was coherent enough for that.”

“You were coherent for that? Then were you coherent the entire time?” Minseok asked as he sat next to Jongdae, arms wrapped around his knees.

“I mean most of it. I just remember up to being tackled by you and struggling around…”

“That was all you did…” Minseok said thoughtfully. This was new, something he needed to make a mental note of.

“I’m sorry..” Jongdae whispered.

“It’s fine. Don’t be sorry. You must be struggling to contain yourself now anyways—next to a dead body.”

“I-I’m managing…” The two stared at the ground for a silent moment.

“Who do you think they are?” Asked Jongdae.

“You can’t tell?” Jongdae shook his head. “They’re Hevs. Both from a prison camp. They have numbers on their wrists and the crescent moons with two birds stamped on their arm.”

“Oh. Now I don’t feel as bad for kicking the kid.”

Minseok fumed and took half a fist to hit the backside of Jongdae’s head.

“His race has nothing to fucking do with anything. He’s a child. You hit a goddamn child.” Jongdae looked down as he rubbed the pain away.

“S-Sorry.. I-I didn’t mean that..”

“Just don’t ever say that again… I think they must have escaped from a camp when we escaped, too. Their marks are purple from the Hagwood camps… That’s a very long distance from here.  They might have been traveling as far as we have.”  Minseok was now crouching next to the dead body as he inspected her a little closer.

The body was wearing a pink t-shirt, much too little for the growing cold and worn out jeans with cuts and stains all over them. She wore dirty sneakers that seemed ready to decay along with her.

“Say, where is the kid?”

“He ran off that way. I think he noticed I was Ethrean and got scared... She’s been dead for almost a day now… And I think from natural causes. Or a disease. I don’t see any open wounds, but maybe a growing parasite took her life, or starvation.  I don’t know, it’s hard to tell.”

Jongdae simply sat back and watched as Minseok lightly picked out the girls attributes.

“No more than fifteen, I would say. And I definitely think they escaped a camp. Her frown lines are very prominent. She was anxious all the time and worried. These aren’t the features of someone who smiled all the time.”

“Geez, you don’t have to figure out her life story. It’s not like we knew the girl.”

“No. But someone else did.”

Jongdae closed his mouth, figuring he had said more than enough of the wrong thing for the day.

“And the kid is alone. They’re probably siblings. They have similar facial structures.” Minseok went to reach a hand up to brush the girl’s hair out of her face when a small voice screamed out at them.

“Don’t touch her!” The voice yelled with a crack in a very heavy accent.

Minseok quickly retreated his hand and found the boy again, hiding behind a tree much closer this time. The half of his face that was showing was covered in tears with red cheeks. Now that the boy was stationed he could fully see the blonde hair on him.  The boy’s head was growing hair back, as if it had been recently shaven in the last couple of months.

The three all stayed there for a moment, staring back at each other, figuring out the correct words to say. Before Minseok went to speak, the child flinched and coward behind the tree again.

“Hello.” Minseok said softly again. “My name’s Minseok. Kim Minseok. What’s yours?” He had a soft smile on his face, his eyes delicate and inviting for the child. However, the child did not respond. He stood there looking between the two figures, panic racing through his frail body.

“He might not understand you.” Jongdae whispered as he stared at the kid, dazed by the fact another human-being was in his presence. It had been a good long while since he last saw a human-being other than Minseok.

“Hello there. My name is Kim Minseok, a pleasure to meet you young man.” He tried again in the boy’s native tongue. The child immediately reacted, it wasn’t anything special but the automatic response to say “hello” almost came out of his mouth.

Minseok decided to try a different approach. “Is this your older sister?” He said in the native tongue of the boy again.

This time the boy nodded and hid slightly more behind the tree, gripping the hem of his white and very dirty shirt.

“Did she pass away yesterday?” The boy nodded again in response. “Would you care to make a burial for her?” The boy was hesitant this time, he wasn’t sure of what he wanted to do. He didn’t want to be near the men but he really didn’t want his sister’s body to stay out in the open.

Eventually, the boy slowly nodded his head.

“Then come, help me dig a small grave.” Minseok smiled as he stood to his feet and walked a few inches away from the body. He got to his knees and began tracing an outline, large enough for the body, in the ground. As soon as he finished, he began to use his hands to carve the earth.

He turned over to Jongdae, mouthing for him to help; only to receive an exasperated shrug and the word “what” mouthed back.

Before long the kid had joined both males at the other end of the outline and started digging away.  He was silent, and very apprehensive; looking up every once in a while to make sure the men in front of him weren’t trying anything funny on him.

Minseok couldn’t help but have a soft smile on his face. There was a child here, and he really wanted to get to know the small thing. But he couldn’t help but notice how very small the boy was. He was scrawny, with the hollows of his cheeks much sunken in. His eyes had rather dark circles as if late nights up kept him that way. His skin was in a mixture of gray and a light shade of pink. Minseok assumed after being away from the camps for so long, his natural skin color must have been coming back.

“What is your name?” Minseok asked softly.

“Yixing… Zhang.. Yixing..” The boy whispered.

“Zhang Yixing?” Minseok repeated. “Is that really your name?” The boy nodded. “Well Mr. Zhang. What was your sister’s name?”

The boy stopped digging for a moment and looked over at his sister. His face was void of emotion; if anything, he was as pale as a ghost and seemed as if he would throw up.

“Xing Su.. Zhang Xing Su..”

“Zhang Xing Su?” Minseok asked, earning a nod from the boy.

“Were you both prisoners?” Minseok asked, daring to push the limits.

The boy nodded, much slower this time.

“Her hair was very long and beautiful then.” He added.

The boy stayed silent for a moment, trying to find the right words to say.

“She had a special relationship. The guards and other Ethreans let her keep her hair and fed us real food as long as she played with them every night.” Both Minseok and Jongdae’s faces fell, understanding the true meaning of ‘play every night.’ “They fed us really good, too. Cheese and bread and homemade soups and steaks. But then, when all the other prisoners started to hate us, we ran away. We went to go look for the Underground Railroad—”

“So it exists?” Jongdae whispered over to Minseok, earning himself a punch in the arm.

“—And then when the bombs started falling, we were followed out of the town and escaped all over the place. Su never told me where we were going but just to trust her and follow her everywhere. And then we ended up here. And she never ate anything… She always fed me…” Yixing stopped digging and stared at the ground.  “I tried to pick the bugs off her when I woke up today.. And she still wouldn’t wake up…”

Both Minseok and Jongdae were silent, carefully listening to what the boy had to say.

“She’s not… Waking up ever… Is she?” The boy looked up at the silent males, his face devoid of life. The child had seen too much in his young years, it almost seemed as if the death of his sister hadn’t phased him.

“No.. Little one, no she’s not.” Minseok spoke with sincerity, making sure the child knew he meant no offense, no harm and the utmost sympathy.

The kid instead looked away from the two males and eventually found his butt against the ground. He started digging again, his face never showing any sign of emotion, no sign of remorse or sadness. Minseok could only stare at Jongdae, speaking to him without the physical use of words of what he thought of the child.

“You know, it’s okay to cry. If something makes—”

“She often talked about that.”

“Of what?” Jongdae asked instead.

“Of leaving. Leaving the planet to be somewhere where she could live freely, and happily. And she’s there now.” Yixing hadn’t spared a glance to the two as he spoke.

Minseok was distraught. He lost his mother at a young age, but not this young. It must have been just Yixing and his sister for a very long time. But Minseok wasn’t like this when his mother died, he was bitter, and full of sorrow. He cried for months at the age of fifteen after finding out his mother died in a helicopter crash. This child couldn’t be any older than ten, and his life already must have been something he rather not talk about.

“Where were you and your sister headed, Yixing?”

“To Regnum Bridge.”

“What’s in Regnum Bridge?”

“She said that there were running trains there, trains that would take us to a safer place.”

“What place is safe?” Jongdae mumbled to himself.

“For Hevin people, you mean?” The boy nodded in response to Minseok.

“She said that mommy might be there when we get there.”

Minseok almost already knew what that meant. The boy’s mother was most likely departed with the rest of the people in the country. And not in the good sense.

“What do you plan to do now, little one?” The kid shrugged, uncaring to the question. “Well you can’t just go about doing nothing.” The kid grimaced this time.

“I guess I’m going to keep going west. She always said that we just need to keep going west if we wanted to reach wherever we were going. And I’ll just keep going and see if I can find my mother.”

“You know, you’re a very brave little thing. And you’re so very small. Tell me, how old are you?”

“I’m nine and a half.” The boy hadn’t smiled, but he made a special sort of face that prominently showed a single dimple on his right cheek. “How old are you?” He asked back, this time sparing a glance at the two.

“I’m thirty one.” Answered Minseok.

“I’m twenty eight.” Answered Jongdae.

“That’s nice, I suppose. We’re very different in age. Big sister was only five years older than me.”

“How long were the two of you alone then?” Minseok asked.

The boy stopped for a while, trying to count on his fingers discreetly in the dirt. He was cute, thinking very hard on what he tried to decipher.

“I’m afraid I can’t quite remember.” The boy finalized and slumped his shoulders, retaining the same forlorn expression once again.

“That’s okay. Jongdae and I can’t quite remember how long we’ve been here for, either. But it’s been almost half a year at least.” Minseok smiled softly to the boy, still trying to be inviting.

“That sounds like what big sister and I were doing. Did you escape, too?”  The boy asked, leaning in to the question a bit.

“In a sense of the word, yes we did escape.”

The small almond eyes of the boy looked over to Jongdae and shuttered a bit. He seemed as if he wanted to speak, but couldn’t find the proper words to use.

“Um.. I don’t remember getting your name.”  The boy asked meekly, keeping his gaze low on the ground.

“Kim Jongdae.” He spoke with uncertainty, knowing the child was just being polite and wasn’t sure if he wanted to apologize first. “I um… Earlier. That wasn’t me.. I mean! That _was_ me, but it _wasn’t_ me… And I’m sorry for that.” Jongdae bit his lip trying to sound as sympathetic as he could muster.

“Why are you sorry if it wasn’t you?” The child asked with the utmost innocence. The naivety in his voice was so untainted by the world that it almost made Minseok smile. Despite the child being so young, there was still a sense of young in him. If that made sense to anyone, Minseok would be proud to say he wasn’t all too crazy.

Jongdae went to speak but only opened his mouth a few times to find no sound coming out. Minseok simply smiled when Jongdae looked over at him.

“Mr. Zhang is correct. You have no reason to be sorry for what happens to you, you know.”

“I-I… I-I know… I just… There has to be a level of communication about what happened though! I can’t just let it go on that I hit someone and not acknowledge it!”

Minseok chuckled, “I know Jongdae. It’s nice to hear something refreshing from someone quite so small. Zhang Yixing?” He called.

“Yes?”

“May I see your chest when we’ve finished? You were hit very hard and I want to make sure not much damage was done.”

“O-Okay…” The boy’s cheeks flushed, Minseok found it endearing.

“Don’t worry. I was a doctor once. Before I escaped with Jongdae.” The young boy scrunched his face and pondered on the thought.

“What _are_ you doing out here then?” The boy asked after finding it the most suitable.

“Well, we’re looking for a place to live and be safe. Much like you, we escaped when our city was under attack and took roads that were underground once the atomic bombs hit.  We surfaced when we were far enough and found that almost everywhere we went was abandoned.  Nobody lived anywhere anymore. So now we’re just two people searching for new life.”

The boy was silent, listening intensely to the story.  He wasn’t so like them, but he could relate enough to the point where he was running away from someone, or something. He wasn’t quite sure of what to say now, how to respond after listening to their story. But there was one question looming in his mind.

“Are you… Soldiers?” The boy almost whispered.

Both Minseok and Jongdae’s faces fell, not really sure of how the little kid should know the answer.

“I’m not a soldier.” Said Minseok.

“And I’m not a solider either.” Answered Jongdae.

“That’s good. Soldiers are bad people.” The kid said lowly.

“But I was once.” Minseok started again. “When I was seventeen years old my father made me join the army.” Jongdae hit Minseok’s arm and mouthed ‘what are you doing?!’ He only shrugged back. “I never wanted to be a part of the military, but my father was a colonel at the time, so I had no choice. I never wanted to kill or hurt others. I wanted to help. My father and I fought over the matter, and he eventually sent me to school where I learned about biology, physics, anthropology, a bit of medicine and anything I could get my hands on. My father didn’t even let me graduate because I was doing so well and made me become a special part in the military’s medical team.”

Jongdae was silent, knowing full well that Minseok was sugar coating the whole thing, but he knew better than to burst out.

“So you helped more than hurt?”

Minseok froze at the boys soft words.

“At first. Yes.”

If the boy was going to ask another question regarding the situation, Minseok was going to be wise and ignore it. Instead of speaking for the remainder of the hour, they sat in silence as they dug a deep enough burial for the young girl. Every so often the boy would run over to the body and stare at it for a while before picking off the many bugs that crawled in and out of open places.

Somewhere along the way, Jongdae found sticks to loosen the dirt instead of using their bare hands.  The tips of their fingers were stained deep with black and their nails full of soil.  It was an uncomfortable feeling, but since Minseok and Jongdae knew they were going to bathe soon, it didn’t matter.

The sun had just about left the midrise of the day and was slowly making its way to sundown. They had finished making a burial deep enough for the body and covered it up, decorating the top with sticks of berries and wild flowers found around the forest. Minseok took to decorating it himself with the young boy as Jongdae stood off to the side.

Minseok had helped clean the boy’s hand with sanitary wipes that he kept stowed away in one of the book bags. Jongdae was upset that he never knew about it and was brushed off by Minseok’s responses.

In turn, as Minseok had promised, he checked the boy’s chest quickly for any damage. The area was red, and very sore to the touch. Nothing was broken but the pain hurt awfully for the boy to breathe; it was hard to take deep breaths.

When it came time, Minseok dragged Jongdae’s arm away and spoke lowly to him.

“We can’t just leave him like this.” They were close, afraid anyone but them could hear.

“Yes we can.” Jongdae said simply.

“No we can’t! He’s just a boy!”

“He’s Hevin.”

“That doesn’t mean anything!” Minseok strained his voice, still becoming frustrated with Jongdae. “Look… I know.. I know they took your parents lives from you… But this kid is not them. He’s no killer. He’s a victim just like you.” The two males looked over at the boy who was crouching in front of his sister’s burial, playing with one of the sticks of berries.

“They killed your parents too.” Jongdae said flatly, his face void of emotion.

Minseok balled his hands into fists. “I know! Goddamn it, Jongdae!” He took a swing at Jongdae and came in contact with the tree next to him. “I never got along with my dad.”

“But you did with your mother.”

Minseok looked down, and slumped his shoulders. He brought his hand back and slowly soothed it. “I did.. But there’s nothing I can do about it now. Yixing isn’t the one who killed my mother. I have no reason to be angry at him. But fine, I’ll tell the kid we’re heading where he can’t follow.” Minseok’s face was firm, both disappointed and upset with Jongdae.

“No. It’s fine! Just, instead? Let the kid choose for what he wants to do.”

Minseok sighed through his nostrils and made his way over to the kid.

“Hey there.” Minseok said as he approached, careful to not frighten the boy. “Jongdae and I were going out to look for a place to bathe. There’s a river not too far from here.  You’re more than welcome to join us.” Minseok smiled again to the boy as Jongdae walked up behind them.  His arms were crossed on his chest.

The way Jongdae looked at Yixing made the boy feel small and alter his answer as to whether or not if he wanted to join.

“N-No.. That’s okay. I’ll be on my own way.” The boy nodded as he looked up at the two.

Minseok frowned, he had all sorts of hope that the boy would join them.

“Are you sure?” The boy nodded slowly in response.

And with that, both Minseok and Jongdae grabbed their back packs and went on their way. Minseok was mopey and diluted—he could barely find the energy in his legs to even keep walking. Jongdae on the other hand had an overwhelming feeling of guilt built up. But he had a small secret that he wasn’t sure if he should share with Minseok or not—the boy was following them.

He was far enough behind the two to not have his footsteps heard, but Jongdae could hear him as clear as day. It made Jongdae smile, he knew full well that the boy wanted to join them, but refused _because_ of him. He could also tell the boy was starving; he was weak and shaky the entire time they made the burial, and the lack of nutrition made the boy’s steps sloppy.

“He’s following us.”

“I know.”

“How’d you know?”

“I flashed him a can of corn when I was going through my bag.”

“Oh, you sneaky devil.” Jongdae went in and nuzzled his nose into Minseok’s cheek, kissing him lightly with a small raspberry. The two giggled endearingly at each other until Jongdae froze when he heard a clash of leaves. Minseok heard a faint noise and turned around as well. Jongdae dashed backwards and searched for the cause of the sound, leaving Minseok behind.

He waited a while before deciding to follow, stepping slowly through the leaves in case he heard another noise.

“Jongdae?” Minseok said loud enough.

“I’m here.” He called back, a further ways away.

“Is everything alright?” Minseok started to pick up his pace and ran over to find Jongdae carrying a limp boy in his arms around a thicket.

“I think he fainted.”

“He must not have eaten in the last couple of days, do you think?”

“I think that’s safe to assume. Come on, the river’s nearby. I can smell the water.”

The two went on their way again. This time with a frail boy laden in Jongdae’s arms. They chose their words carefully around the boy, afraid that he was conscious and listening to some of what they had to say.

The boy hadn’t woken though, not until Minseok took his canteen and poured a bit down the child’s throat. It woke him with a cough and startle, hurting his chest in the process.

“Zhang Yixing, are you alright?” Minseok asked as he stroked the boy’s forehead, doting on the blonde hair in the process.

Yixing’s eyes were so wide and confused that it almost seemed too cute for Minseok to handle. It took him a while to realize he was in Minseok’s lap, next to a small campfire—the smell of cooking food was what made him come to his senses.

“I’m hungry.” The boy muttered as his eyes focused on the two pots in the fire.

“Here. This is yours.” Jongdae held out a plate full of corn and small sausages.

The boy looked back and forth between the two men before getting an okay from both. He snatched the plate and began to scarf down its contents. He was now sitting upright in Minseok’s lap, sniffling and inhaling the food as if he hadn’t eaten in weeks. Jongdae sat on the other side of the fire and watched as the kid ate his meal, eating his own meal slowly in the process.

Yixing finished the plate off with gulps of the canteen Minseok gave him.

“Better?” Minseok chuckled.

“Much! My headache’s even starting to go away.” Yixing smiled back at Minseok.

Minseok’s heart fluttered at the warming sight of Yixing’s smile. It was so genuine and so gracious that it made him almost forget where he was. Jongdae on the other hand was fascinated by the child’s dimple. It was so perfect and charming that he could have sworn he was tempted to bite the cheek rather than pinch it. He wasn’t sure if it was some weird cannibalistic feature he grew, or if this was how something so cute and endearing made him feel.  It had been so long since he’d been around something quite so small.

“You had a headache?” Minseok finally asked, looking over at Jongdae.  Min seemed to plead something in his eyes that neither of them could decipher; as if fighting for something he himself didn’t understand.

“Yeah. I get a lot of headaches.”

“That’s because you don’t have enough food in your body mister.”

“Really? Big sister always said it was because I was growing up.”

Minseok furrowed his eyes brows, completely baffled by the phrase.

“No silly. You don’t have enough food in your body to keep you functioning normally. If you don’t eat enough you’ll become weak, and suffer from a lot of pain… Does your stomach hurt?”

“Just when I get hungry. Or if I ate something bad. Sometimes, my big sister tried making fish or squirrel and I would get really bad stomachaches after that.”

Jongdae giggled in the background, earning a glare from Minseok.

“But you never get a pain that feels like its burning your stomach and chest?”  

“Not… Really no. I’ve been so hungry before that it felt like it was burning, though. And like I was going to throw up.” Yixing tilted his head trying to recall the feeling.

“That’s just normal hunger then. If you ever feel like your stomach and chest are burning, tell me immediately. That means the acid in your stomach is eating away at your insides. And that could be very bad.” Minseok spoke in a baby-ish tone and the act kind of made Yixing baffled.

“You’re okay now, right? Do you want more food?” Jongdae asked.

“Can I have more sausages? Those were really yummy.”

“Of course.” Jongdae went to receive the fork to pick the sausages out but Yixing had raced from Minseok’s lap and to the pans.

“Hey!” Jongdae yelled to stop the kid. Yixing froze. “Just be patient. I’ll get it for you.” Yixing seemed embarrassed and sat his butt down where he was.

“Here you go.” Yixing took the plate with a small ‘thank you’ and crawled back over to Minseok’s lap.

“When was the last time you ate?” Minseok asked with a small smile.

The boy put his current sausage down and started to count on his greasy fingers; his mouth full, and covered with grease, too.

“I think two days. Big sister went longer without food, though. She would feed me and not herself.”

Minseok thought for a moment.

“And how often did you go without eating?” The boy shrugged after thinking a bit.

“I once went a full week without food. And the camp used to feed us only twice a day.”

Minseok furrowed his eyebrows. Fully disliking how their conversation was going. It seemed to not bother the kid that much; it might have had something to do with the food he had—probably making the child feel content.

“Well, if you’d like, you wouldn’t have to starve anymore.”

The kid hadn’t responded. Instead he chewed on his food and found his silence the better of his ideas.

“Say. How can you guys speak so well?” Yixing asked.

“Whatever do you mean?” Minseok laughed a bit, completely taken aback by the question.

“You’re Ethrean. But you speak Hevin so well.”

“I had to learn the language when I was a doctor.”

“I studied the language when I was with him.” Jongdae added.

“How did you know we were Ethrean anyways? We look very similar to you.”

“You don’t have the mark on your arm.” The boy held out his arm and showed the two men. “And you greeted me in Ethrean, not Hevin.”

“You’re quite the observant one aren’t you?” Minseok ruffled the kid’s golden locks, making him shudder at the touch. The way Yixing reacted hadn’t gone unnoticed by Minseok.

“Oh, we’re by a river. When did we get here?” Yixing asked when he started to notice his surroundings a bit more.

“I carried you over when you fainted.” Said Jongdae.

“How’d you know I fainted?”

“We knew you were following us.” Yixing looked down, almost mortified that the two knew.

“You were very good, though. I didn’t even know until Jongdae confirmed it.”

“How did he conform it?”

“Confirm.” Minseok corrected. “Jongdae has special abilities that make him able to hear, see and smell better than a normal human. He is the perfect human… The perfect weapon.” Minseok muttered the last part so softly that the child sitting in his lap couldn’t even hear it. That or the child just wasn’t attentive enough.

“Is it true Mr. Kim? Can you really hear that well?”

“Mhm.”

“Then what can you hear right now?”

“…Well, not much. I hear a few small animals running around and the water fall.”

“Waterfall?” Minseok and Yixing asked in unison.

“At least I’m pretty sure it is. It sounds like a roaring rush of water.”

The child stared in awe at Jongdae. But Jongdae could only frown and refuse to make eye contact.

“Hey, how about we take some baths? I’m pretty sure we could all use a good scrubbing.” Minseok suggested.

“You know what! You’re absolutely correct. Let’s take a dip.”

Minseok stayed on land in his underwear to wash the clothes and laundry that needed to be done while Jongdae grumbled over cleaning dishes. Yixing helped out by washing his own shirt and pants.

Jongdae eventually joined the two with his own clothes and left them to dry with the other blankets.

When Jongdae and Yixing finished their laundry they took to the cold water to rinse off. After a much debated conversation between the two did Yixing finally agree to go in the water without any underwear. Minseok stayed behind to wash Yixing’s clothes, fully.

He couldn’t help but notice the odd white clouds that would come out of Yixing’s clothes as he did so. He knew the child wouldn’t be able to clean his own clothes properly, but the amount of dirt and grime coming out was enough to show that the kid’s clothes had probably never been cleaned.

He delved in the smell of fresh laundry when he laid them out to dry and soon joined the other two with two wash cloths and a bottle of body wash.

“Where did you get all this?” The boy asked rather astonished.

“We look for abandoned towns as much as possible, and take whatever we can, when we can.”

“Oh… My sister only ever took us through the woods.  She never tried to take us on main roads, she called it the Underground Railroad.”

“You mean it actually exists?” Minseok asked as he maneuvered closer to Jongdae.

“Yeah, but we got lost after our last stop. Nobody was at the safe house we stopped at, so we just took a path we thought was the right one.”

“And the Underground Railroad was to lead you to the trains?”

“The trains.”

“Where do these trains lead to anyhow?”

“There are trains that still run in the west of the country and take us through the mountains. There we were gonna escape away to another country. I can’t remember the name of it… I think it was.. Nocturnal?”

“Naechural. It’s the neutral country. It’ll accept anyone regardless.”

Minseok tossed a wash cloth to Jongdae.

“The Golden City.” Jongdae said a little nostalgic.

“Yeah, we were supposed to meet up with family.”

“And now you’ve been thrown off course.”

“Yeah… And I’m alone. I don’t know how far I can make it alone. Big sister did a lot for me.”

“You know, you don’t seem so remorseful over her death.” Jongdae said as he rubbed the suds on his arms.

“Well… We never got along. And when we were taken away to the camps, she was even meaner to me. And she always dreamed of going far away so I think she’d rather be there anyways.” Yixing twirled around in the water, suddenly getting a feeling of having to use the bathroom. Minseok and Jongdae exchanged looks in the process, understanding the little kid and the circumstances regarding his sister.

“Hey, don’t pee in the water mister. I see you walking away from us. You can get a small alien crawling inside you if you do.”

Yixing froze and turned pale.

“Quickly! Go behind the rocks over there!” Minseok yelled after the boy playfully.

He ran out with his pale behind prominent to the two.

“A little alien? Really?” Minseok grimaced at Jongdae, crossing his arms over his chest.

“What? It’s not like he’s going to know what a parasite is.”

“You don’t know that.”

“I do know that.” Jongdae leaned over to grab Minseok by the hips, pulling him close.

“We can’t just leave him. Let’s take him.” Minseok whispered.

“Take him where?”

“Let’s take him to the trains. We’ll keep him safe and protected on the way.”

“Min… This is a bad idea all around.”

“No its not! It’s perfectly fine. He’ll have food and shelter if we take him. Before you know it he’ll be with his own people when the time comes.”

“Min, you know I love you dearly but we can’t. It’s a terrible idea.”

“Why? What’s so bad about it?” Minseok nearly stomped his foot.

“Well let’s see. First, he’s got you acting like a child. Second, we won’t have alone time anymore.” Minseok grimaced. “And third… I really don’t think a child should be around me. He doesn’t need to see who I am. He doesn’t need to be exposed to us. Who we were. Especially a Hev. And what if we get caught with him?”

Minseok looked to the ground, pondering on the thought. Jongdae was right, Yixing didn’t need to be exposed to them, but who’s to say the kid hadn’t been exposed to something worse?

“He either doesn’t have to find out… Or he learns to live with it.”

“Min, what if I hurt him?” Jongdae pulled Minseok closer by the arm, speaking almost threateningly.

“You won’t.” Minseok, this time, took his hand and entwined it into Jongdae’s.

“You don’t know that.”

“I do know that.” Minseok smiled lightly up at Jongdae and brought his hand up to kiss it. “You’ve never, truly _hurt_ me.”

The sound of a small throat being cleared caught the attention of the two loving males. Yixing stood at the edge of the river carefully eyeing them.

“Are you two married?” Yixing asked in his small voice, no sign of hate or disdain.

Both Minseok and Jongdae looked at each other, not sure how they should go about the situation. Or if they should break their hands away. Yet something spoke between the two along the lines of: ‘if he stays, he has to know our relationship’.

“No, little one. We’re not married.” Minseok said as he went to face the small naked thing, still holding onto Jongdae’s hand.

“So then you’re boyfriend and girlfriend!” He pointed at their hands, still standing from the edge of the river.

Jongdae laughed while Minseok stood there, shocked.

“N-No. I guess… Well…” Minseok looked up at Jongdae, knowing full well that the two never established a relationship between themselves.  It was always an unspoken message between them.

“Are you courting each other?”

“Well no..”

“Siblings?”

“No!” Both yelled in unison.

“Then what are you?”

“We’re boyfriends.” Jongdae finally spoke.

Minseok tensed at the words and tried his best to hide his growing blush. A thirty-one year old man and ashamed to talk to a nine year old, the world worked in funny ways.

“Boyfriends? I’ve never heard of that.” The boy shrugged and began to walk into the water, kicking it about.

“Well now you have.”

“So you love each other? I’ve seen mommy and daddy love each other. Uncle and aunty, grandma and grandpa. But never two strangers who are both boys, like me.”

“Yes. We do love each other. And love works in mysterious ways. It’s not always the same for everyone. Just how we are all individually different, we all love differently.” Minseok said as he began to wash Yixing’s back.

“Mommy told me that love was all everyone ever needed. And that it was the same for everyone.”

“She had the right idea… But everyone feels love, whether it’s for a friend, family member or romance. There’s something very similar of it.”

Yixing stayed silent as Minseok dragged the boy backwards to the shallow part of the river. He thought about the idea and figured it was an adult thing that his brain wasn’t quite able to comprehend yet. Just when he thought he understood it, he would think of something else that made it impossible. Minseok knew that the kid was thinking hard about it and smiled to himself when he noticed.

“Do you think I’ll find a boyfriend one day, then?” Yixing asked, earning a guffaw from Jongdae next to the two.

“I don’t know little one.” Minseok chuckled. “Like I said, love works in mysterious ways. You’ll find love when you are ready.”

Yixing frowned, knowing full well this was still an adult conversation that he didn’t get to know about.

As Minseok scrubbed the boy’s back, making sure to remove the dirt and grime, he noticed the many bruises and scars that trailed his back. He was a scrawny thing, rib cage showing brightly along with his shoulder blades. His skin was turning a bit red with the constant scrubbing, but there were white specs that were persistent in not removing themselves.

“What on earth…” Minseok moved closer and used his finger to scratch at the white clusters that gathered around his neck and under arms.

Minseok’s stomach fell when he recognized the feeling against his nails. He fell backwards and began to hyperventilate.

“What’s wrong?!” Jongdae asked in a rush after witnessing the whole scene.

“N-Nothing! Nothing..” He tried to recollect himself and calm down.

Jongdae, instead, went over to Yixing and started to inspect the child.

“Bone meal…” He whispered. Yixing was severely confused, he no idea what was going on. Especially since the two were speaking in their native tongue.

“Wh-What’s wrong?”

“Nothing, small fry. It’s fine.” Jongdae intervened as he helped Minseok sit up.

Yixing fussed, trying to see what was on his back but failed when he started going in circles.

“I’ll finish.” Jongdae took the wash cloth and put more body wash on it.

“How long were you in the camp for, Yixing?”

“I don’t know… A couple months? It was hard to keep track of time.” The boy said, finding his mouth dry on the subject.

“You haven’t bathed in a while have you?”

“Not really..”

“Hm..” Jongdae took over and began scrubbing roughly over the boy’s skin.

“Dae.. You’re going really hard.” Minseok said when he caught them from the corner of his eyes; he took up on finishing his own round of washing.

“I am? Well why didn’t you say anything?” Jongdae ask as he leaned down to Yixing.

“It’s okay. They were harder in the camp.”

“I’m sorry..” Jongdae whispered and started to scrub a little more gently.

“It’s okay.”

They spent their evening washing each other thoroughly. Minseok wanted to make sure that Yixing was as clean as possible, so that he wasn’t susceptible to disease or illness. After, they played in the water—enjoying each other’s company in a way they never thought possible.

Minseok ended up giving Yixing a quick exam. Making sure his body wasn’t suffering from atrophy or anything terribly awful. It was relieving to see that the kid was just fatigued and very small. All of which could be easily regained with rest, food and nurturing. That still didn’t stop what Minseok couldn’t see on the inside. It was difficult for that part without proper instruments. But Yixing was fine aside from all that. And a sore chest that could be helped with a little ice pack.

“Here.” The little boy said while wearing nothing but his shirt and underwear. He was holding out a handful of large leaves that looked oddly similar to ivy leaves.

“What’s this?” Minseok asked, not wearing a shirt as well. Jongdae said it was a manly thing to do since everyone there was a man.

“Hollyhock. The leaves will help your back.” Minseok went to take the leaves and stared baffled.

“Why, thank you.”

“Steam them first, they’ll work better that way.”

“And how do you know this?”

“My mommy used to work with plants a lot. She always used to put these on my knees and elbows.”

“Why thank you Zhang Yixing. I’ll used them tonight before bed.”

“I noticed your back was really red and it looked painful.”

“Does it? Well I hadn’t even noticed..”

“I was going to rub some cream on it, but the kid beat me to it.” Jongdae butt in when he walked over to them with a small white tube in his hands.

“Thank you, you guys… That was so awfully sweet.” Minseok smiled to both Yixing and Jongdae. Earning a small smile from Yixing’s often stoic face.

For the rest of the evening they traveled back on the forest path to the original camp site. It was left untouched how Jongdae and Minseok left it. Yixing was fascinated with that small area and almost drooled over the idea of a tent.

It wasn’t until after dinner that Minseok and Jongdae decided they would tell Yixing that they were both willing to take him to the railroads over in Regnum Bridge. They both held each other’s hands and with a hint of despair, as they asked Yixing to join them in their travels. Yixing was reluctant, he was unsure. But he couldn’t hide the warm bubbling sensation in his stomach he felt around the two. Although he was apprehensive towards Jongdae, he still felt safe. Which was something he hadn’t felt in a good long while.

 **○** ✣ **○**

_“How do you feel today?”_

_“Oh you know. Dead. But what else is new?”_

_“I’m serious, describe your feelings after testing out the metal rungs.”_

_“Doctor? Aren’t you a little_ too _comfortable with our patient right now?”_

 _“Of course, where is my sense of professionalism? I’m sorry for trying to seem at least a little_ human _to_ my human _test subject.”_

_“Excuse me?”_

_“Nothing, Major General.” The doctor bowed slightly before turning over._

_“Doctor you are not dismissed!” The Major General nearly yelled._

_“I was not leaving Major General. I was simply checking on my patient.” He seethed through his teeth._

_“Just remember who’s funding your experiments and who you’re serving.”_

_The doctor clenched his jaw and nodded his head in the most respectful manner he could._

_“Very well. You are dismissed.”_

_Each of the individual doctors bowed at ninety degree angles as the many board members of the Major General’s branch exited the room. All putting on their respective military caps._

_The doctors each filed out after bidding their head doctor goodbye._

_As soon as the room was empty and door shut, the head doctor was left with white walls and white knuckles. He stormed to the metal dresser on one end of the room and grabbed a microphone that sat on top.  He fumed to the other side of the room to remove another similar looking microphone. After placing them placed them faced toward each other he sat in one of the chairs beside his patient’s bed. He groveled in his spot, hands firmly pressed up against his face and elbows on his knees._

_“Daddy issues?”_

_The doctor harrumphed._

_“At least I know that you get your looks from your mother.”_

_“My grandmother, actually. On my mother’s side.”_

_“No kidding?”_

_“Yeah.”_

_“You weren’t kidding when you said you guys didn’t get along.”_

_The doctor shook his head._

_“Nope. But seriously, how do you feel? They stuck a lot of needles in you today.”_

_“Oh I’ll be fine.” His patient was lifeless looking. Eyes sunken in, body frail to the touch and skin gray with deterioration._

_The doctor could only stare, helpless in every way._

_“You’re not going soft on me are you?” Asked the patient._

_“I just don’t know what to do…”_

_“What do you mean?”_

_“My father! Is what I’m doing really for the greater good? Is our country the answer to everyone’s sorrows? Do we massacre a race of people because we’re apparently ‘superior’ to them? Is this the answer?!”_

_“If there weren’t cameras around and I wasn’t strapped to this damned table, I would rest a comforting hand on your shoulder and tell you ‘you do what you must. Follow the moment, not the past and not the future.’”_

_“But is this_ right _?” He pleaded. “I know my father has killed the previous officers to get to his spot, and who knows when he’ll kill the current general to get what he wants. My father is not a good man, he’s a liar. I don’t know if I can trust him.”_

_“I don’t have an answer for you. All I know is that you need to follow your heart in this case. Don’t let science tell you otherwise.”_

_“But you’re just as involved in this as I am. Do you think this is right?”_

_“My family was murdered brutally in front of me. I have nothing else left in this world after my hometown was bombed. My opinion is clouded with grief and rage, you can’t ask for my input.”_

_“But my judgment is clouded too… I can’t.. I don’t! Goddamn it! I don’t want anything bad to happen to you!”_

_“You signed yourself up for this. I told you not to get soft.”_

_“But you honestly look like the spitting image of death! And trust me, I’ve seen more than hundred ways a dead body can look in this ward! We’re literally feeding the equivalent of tar into your body.”_

_“And what makes me so different from any of your previous test subjects? The fact we’re of the same ethnicity? That’s what binds us together!”_

_“No… I don’t think so…”_

_“Then what?” The patient spat._

_“I don’t know…”_

**○** ✣ **○**

“Do you remember the first time we made love?” Jongdae whispered to Minseok.

The two were snuggled in their tent, a small human-being fast asleep in between their bodies.

“You mean the day you magically appeared at my apartment, at two in the morning, out of breath, and very disheveled?”

“That day exactly.”

“After I specifically let you chose out of several women, and ran away when you were under strict surveillance?”

“You guessed it.”

“Of course I remember, how could I forget?”

“Do you remember what I said to you that night?””  
  


_“Let’s do it. Let’s just get out of here.”_

_“Jongdae… We can’t… My fa—”_

_“What? Your father? Why are you so afraid of him? Just stand up to him and fight him away. You know just as well as I do that he doesn’t see you as a son.”_

_“No! It’s not that.. We’ll be followed if we do… And you know how many people want to use my work for ill use…”_

_“Then burn it… Get rid of everything…”_

_“Jongdae…”_

_“Or you can just forget about everything and come to a different country with me… We could do it. Just you and me.”_

 

“I do..”

“You know, I never imagined that it would be like this. I never thought we would ever get this far. And end up with a small child.” Jongdae looked down at Yixing’s tousled hair, still bright in the dark tent.

Over the last few weeks, it was safe to say that Jongdae had fully grown attached to Yixing. He cared so deeply for the boy that it was hard to ever let him out of his sight.  He always personally made sure to double check Yixing’s chest to make sure it was healing properly.

“We’re like a family, don’t you think?” Minseok reached over and held gently onto Jongdae’s hand.

“A bit dented… But I think we’re the closest thing to it.”

“I don’t want to let him go.” Minseok whispered even lower, afraid that even the smallest of specs could hear him.

Jongdae could feel Minseok’s pain. He could feel the swelling of his throat and the tears that followed from Minseok. But he couldn’t say anything, he didn’t know how to comfort him. There wasn’t anything he could do. It was the right thing to let Yixing go back to his people—where he belonged, yet he himself wanted to keep Yixing by their side. They all got along so well. It was wonderful to even _watch_ life seep back into Yixing’s body, the child even _smiled_ more. He laughed and brought joy to each of them.

Yet what if they were ever caught with the boy? It was only a matter of time before troops run into their path and investigate the boy. He barely knew any of the Ethrean language despite having been given a code name if he were ever asked by authorities. 

They were reaching a part in the country where the temperature started to get a bit warmer, but there were more people around. Towns were still in stages of evacuation, and it made Minseok and Jongdae nervous. They knew nothing of the war’s status, who knew if another atomic bomb would be dropped?

“Me neither..” Jongdae whispered even lower, to the point where he wasn’t even sure sound came out, only his moving lips.

“Jongdae..” Minseok shrugged his shoulders, finally finding a way to release his tears. “I’m scared..”

“I am too… I’ve never.. Wanted to protect someone so badly before… Is this.. What it feels like to have a family of your own?”

They laid there in darkness, listening to the sound of each other’s breaths under the whispering wind and chattering crickets outside. It was getting windier in the nights, definitely signaling “it’s time to find shelter” that could hold them for a while when this all ended.

Regnum Bridge was still long out of their reach, a major city and its two rivers still very much in their path.  Once they passed the city of Saeford, they would be so close to their destination.

But a lingering worry hovered over both adults: what was even the status of the city? Saeford used to once be a great city known for its high immigrant population and towers of trade. It was an economic center of the world, but somehow not _the_ economic center.

Was the city still full of civilians? Was it in a current state of evacuation like the surrounding towns? Was it taken completely by soldiers who didn’t care if you were friend or foe?

So many questions that couldn’t be answered.

An occasional family driving by in their car would stop to tell the trio to turn around, but they never stayed long enough to actually be questioned further. Those who still lingered in towns, gathering provisions on foot, hadn’t time to send the trio a second glance. It was chaotic, streets were full of trash, houses were broken in to, fires burned in random spots. The further they traveled toward Regnum the more robberies they experienced.

Once a suburban neighborhood proved to be unsafe to travel, Jongdae and Minseok would immediately travel on the outskirts avoiding the towns completely.

“Min… We’re getting really low on food. I don’t think we can afford to skip the next town.” Stated Jongdae as he searched through his book bag.

The three were taking a rest in an abandoned amusement park. Foliage covered the Ferris wheel in dark colors, graying almost all the rides around. Yixing was just fine pretending to be sitting in them, riding them. He had been sitting in one of the old abandoned bumper cars—across the way from Minseok and Jongdae, sure to not leave their eyesight.

“We’ll just check it out first. Every town we’ve passed by has been terrible. Full of greedy people stricken with fear.”

“So what? We’re in war. That’s bound to happen.”

“I don’t want Yixing to be exposed to that.” Minseok gritted his teeth.

Both males had been on edge lately, quicker to snap at each other and get on each other’s nerves.

“Oh please. The kid was a goddamn slave.  He’s been in the concentration camps, too. I think he’s had his fill of evil in the world.”

“Will you stop treating him as if he’s an object?! He has feelings too!”

“I’m not treating him as an object! I’m just saying that he can handle a few assholes. He’s a big boy.”

“I don’t want anyone to come up to us and rob us.” Minseok breathed through his nose, trying to calm himself.

“So what? You forget what I am Minseok, I can tear their sorry asses apart in mere seconds.”

“Jongdae!”

“It’s true! Stop acting as if that part of me doesn’t exist Minseok! You know better than anyone else what I am, you’re the one who did this to me!”

“Jongdae, stop!” Minseok yelled at the top of his lungs.

“No, Min! Stop running away from this! You know that we need to have this conversation, we’ve needed to talk about this for months now!”

“Talk about what?! There’s nothing to talk about! There’s nothing to clarify!”

“Yes there is, and you know it. Because I never said anything about clearing something up. I just said _‘talk’_ , not _‘clarify’_.”

“No. The only thing to clarify? Is that I will never stop being sorry for what I’ve done.” Minseok’s breath hitched, tears began to well in his eyes.

“There’s not a day that goes by that I don’t look at you and think ‘I can never undo what I’ve done.’… When I look at you, an endless pit of guilt just sits at the bottom of my heart and slowly eats it whole.”

Jongdae was silent, nodding his head with his lower lip covering his upper. His eyebrows were furrowed, almost as if his reaction was completely misunderstanding the situation.

“I get it.” Jongdae nearly whispered.

“Jong—”

“So then why are you with me? If it’s apparently so hard to look at me? Is this some sort of charity work to you then? Did you seriously want me to run away with you all that time ago? Are you here, in front of me now, because all you feel is guilt and the only way to repay me is to fill me with false love?”

“Jong where the hell—”

“Or are you here right now because this is your way to make sure I don’t get loose? So that if I ever survived the bombing, I wouldn’t wreak havoc everywhere? Is this some sick twisted way for you to keep an eye on your creation and give some sense of redemption to yourself?”

Minseok was honestly so astounded that Jongdae had all these things pent up inside. He could barely find words to come out of his mouth to respond.

“So is this how you really feel?” Asked Minseok with disdain. “Is this what you’ve truly felt all this time?”

Jongdae said nothing, making sure to keep a firm eye on Minseok’s every move, to make sure no lie left his mouth.

“Fine. Have it your way.” Minseok threw his bag down and walked away.

He felt that he didn’t need to explain himself in the slightest to Jongdae, he felt that the amount of trust between them was betrayed by the smallest sliver of misunderstanding. And it hurt to see that they would have to fight over something like this. Yet Minseok couldn’t see how childish he was being over the topic. Part of him didn’t want to look at the reality and accept that a small part of him was doing this to keep an eye on Jongdae. But the other part of him was just so honestly hurt and attacked that he couldn’t help but feel betrayed. His chest was heavy, and the pit of his stomach started to well with a nauseating feeling again. Any appetite that he had before was now gone.

As he walked away, he was met with a wide eyed boy, slightly frightened and completely unaware of the contents of the fight. They were speaking in their native tongue.

“Are you okay Uncle Min?” Yixing asked as he stuck his head underneath the balusters of the bumper car ride.

“Yes. I’m fine, little one. Just tired.”

“I heard you and Uncle Dae yelling… It wasn’t… About me, was it?”

Minseok could barely spare a smile to small Yixing, but managed _something_ to come off his features. “Hardly… Don’t worry, everything’s going to be alright, little one.” He let a hand ruffle the tousles of Yixing’s now long hair.

Small Yixing knew better though, he knew that there was something wrong and he already didn’t feel comfortable with the atmosphere between the two.

That night, after Jongdae and Minseok split up to search the carnival grounds for food, they gathered inside one of the staff buildings.  It held plenty of provisions for bed and water, but most importantly, protection from the cold (their tent was becoming too frail for the intense winds at night.)

They had a good haul of food; Minseok and Yixing found a bunch of left over sweets in the small stalls.  Preserved caramel and candied sugar in unopened containers along with vacuum sealed apples.  Packets of sugar for cotton candy in blue raspberry flavor only, all pink had been cut open and eaten by bees and ants (their dead bodies spread along the small counters of the stands).

Jongdae happened by plenty of food places, however, since the freezers had no electricity to keep running, all meats like hotdogs, hamburgers, chicken bites were spoiled rotten. But there were plenty of bagged items that were still well preserved; there were containers that held cheeses and beans of the sort and he grabbed them as well. He found hordes of popcorn and unopened bottles of butter, perfect for the occasion of being at a carnival.

They ate wonderfully when they were able to put everything together in one of the staff buildings.  A stove had been in perfect use in the staff room, still running on gas rather than electricity. 

Jongdae was given the task of preparing dinner while Minseok and Yixing fooled around and made candied apples for dessert. The two lovers barely spoke once to each other in that time, instead they busied themselves with their jobs, only having Yixing to take them out of their contempt.

“Here Uncle Dae!” Yixing held a finger up full of caramel sauce.

“For me? Well I sure hope you washed your hands.” Jongdae smiled playfully and pretended to bite Yixing’s finger off as he took the caramel off his finger. Yixing’s high pitched giggle put a smile Minseok’s face.  He enjoyed the sight very much, and yearned for it to stay like that all the time. But dreams were too good to be true at this point in time. When Jongdae looked up at Minseok, it sent a chilling sensation down both their spines to look at each other.

From that—Minseok and Yixing went back to decorating the candied apples with sprinkles; gathered from the stands, and started to heat up their packets of sugar in the traveling maker they picked.  Yixing ended up making a cotton candy wand bigger than his head combined with Minseok’s and ate it all before their dinner could be served.

Yixing tried hard to bring the two together and both males could see what the small boy was doing.  They knew that their fight was problematic on the child, considering that he was smiling more than usual and making an extra effort to involve them both in his activities.

But it was a lonely night that night. Stories of their past lives were usually told just before bed when they would curl up.  Yixing was always in the middle, with Jongdae’s manning arms and Minseok’s strong hands to hold him securely.  He loved the feeling of security he felt from them, and tonight he was torn between having to choose between one of the two to sleep with.

“Uncle Dae?” Yixing walked up to Jongdae who was readying himself comfortable against the corner wall of the staff room. Yixing was holding a blanket much too big for himself; mouth still covered in red dye from the candied apples.

“What’s the matter, small stuff?” Jongdae asked while pulling his sheets closer to his body.

“Why aren’t we sleeping together?” Yixing’s expression was perplexed.  He was confused, looking back between Jongdae and Minseok who were getting comfortable on different sides of the room.

“Not tonight, blondie.”

“Then who do I sleep with tonight?” Yixing brought the blanket closer to his face as if trying to hide his growing apprehension.

“Well, it doesn’t matter short stuff. You can sleep with which ever one of us you want.”

“Yixing!” Minseok called from the other side of the room, Jongdae wasn’t able to see him. The staff table was blocking his view and the single light coming from above the stove made it all the more difficult.

“Go sleep with Minseok tonight. Don’t worry kiddo.”

“A-Are ya sure? You should come sleep with us.”

“Nah, it’s alright. Goodnight.”

“Okay… Goodnight.” Yixing gave a small kiss on Jongdae’s cheek and ran away, quickly, to the other side of the room.

“What were you talking about over there?” Minseok asked with a playful smile as he began wiping the sides of Yixing’s mouth with a wet towel, clearing away the red dye.

“Nothing. I just gave him a kiss goodnight. He told me to sleep with you.” Yixing fought to get out of Minseok’s hands and hated the feeling of someone wiping his face clean.

“He did, did he?”

“Mhm.”

“Well then, I guess that means you should.. Come here!” Minseok grabbed Yixing’s waist and tugged the boy to the ground, tickling him playfully.

They laughed and giggled as they tried to attack each other with tickles, letting sleep pass them over as they settled in their sheets, readying for a cold night.

And a cold night it was indeed. Minseok could barely sleep; he was half asleep throughout the time he tried to fully fall asleep.  The wind was strong outside, and the draft inside was unbearably chilly.  But the sleeping child in his arms was comfortable and sound with sleep, even if it seemed his dreams were casted in nightmares, his warmth was the most important.

Minseok’s heartrate began to eradicate. Something was wrong and he wasn’t exactly sure what it was.  He thought he heard something come from inside the room, but it was hard to really see anything with the incandescent light from above the stove. On the other side of the room he could see slight shuffling come from Jongdae’s sheets through the table’s legs.

Before he knew it, the light on the stove was turned off and a hand was covering his mouth as two legs hovered near his torso.  Minseok shrieked into the hand and began to flail his arms to punch, but soon recognized the eyes that belonged to the person.

“Jongdae!” Minseok whispered loudly once the hand was removed.

“Sh. Get up. Hurry.” Jongdae grabbed his arm and began pulling the male up from his bed. Yixing stirred from his slumber and whimpered louder than Jongdae liked.

“Quiet!” Jongdae shot back as he began leading the two deeper into the staff building.  Minseok’s bed was right next to the door that led into the building and Jongdae wanted them as far away as possible from it, kicking the sheets around in the process.

“What’s wrong?” Minseok whispered as Jongdae led them up a staircase and into a closet of a dark room.

“Soldiers. Outside.” He locked the closet door just before entering and closed it behind them.

“What? Whose are they? And what the hell are they doing here?”

“Quiet! And I don’t know. But they’re ours. Up to no good I bet, this place has long been abandoned, they have no need to be here.”

Minseok held Yixing close in arms, preventing the child from hearing much or knowing too much of the situation.  But it made the small thing snivel and hold for dear life onto Minseok’s arm, especially since both older males were speaking a language he no longer understood. 

“Baby, you have to be quiet okay? Keep as quiet as you can.  There are bad people outside and they can’t find us. Okay?” Minseok cooed the boy and softly stroked his hair.

“Soldiers?”

“Yes.”

Downstairs a rough knock started at one of the doors, someone was trying to break in.  The shuffle of boots and clacking of uniform gear made Minseok freeze.  He was nervous, and the bubbling anxiety in the pit of his stomach was intensifying.  Jongdae wasn’t in his arms, he was crouching in front of the closet door, peaking through the key hole to make sure they would stay safe.

The chatter of radioed voices drew everyone’s attention to the space below them. Soldiers were in the building and heavily armed, Jongdae could hear the extra clanking of metal against their uniforms.

Jongdae immediately fled the closet entrance and dived for the two bodies in the corner of the closet—as quietly as possible. He grabbed a piece of tarp he noticed earlier and pulled it over the three of them, wrapping his arms tightly around Minseok’s backside and covering the shaking bodies.

“Sh.. It’ll be alright.” Jongdae comforted both as he held tighter onto Minseok’s body. “It’ll pass by soon. I promise.” His voice was lower and just enough to hear over Yixing’s whimpers.

“Nothing will happen… Nothing will happen…” Jongdae repeated to himself as he buried his face into Minseok’s back. Minseok could hear it, who Jongdae was truly talking to.  He could feel Jongdae’s veins pulse, pulse with a power he desperately hoped would stay hidden.

The night was long, too long in Minseok’s head.  He had a headache, the worry too much on his tense features. But morning had found the best of everyone in the closet. Jongdae was sound asleep against Minseok’s back and Yixing was tightly holding onto Minseok’s hoodie, calmer with sleep.

Minseok breathed heavily, trying to rid the sleep from his system, despite that it desperately needed some after last night’s endeavors. He looked all around the closet space to make sure they were still safe.  His chest heaved as he tried to listen out for any noise outside the closet.  It was much a relief to hear nothing after a couple minutes. The light from outside the room was the only light that leaked into the closet, it must have been morning or close to it.

“Is it clear?” Jongdae’s groggy voice sounded in Minseok’s ear.

“Yeah, I think so.” Their voices were low and quiet amongst each other.

“Good.” Jongdae settled his head back down into Minseok’s neck and breathed a sigh. He left a kiss as an involuntary action before he got up and began rubbing the sleep from his eyes.  He went to work immediately—listening out for anyone in the building.

They spent the morning quiet. Yixing was especially quiet—his face pale with leftover fear.  He was jumpy at every little noise and clung extra close to whoever was closest. Their supplies was fine, everything was untouched; just a door entrance left wide open and other doors of the building as well. Jongdae made sure to grab the bags he hid in the cabinets before they hid upstairs and headed outside for their journey.

“Alright, we need to get going. I don’t know what they were doing here, but there’s nothing good to come out of it. So we need to travel fast and quiet to keep out of range. We need to avoid them at all costs.”

Jongdae spoke lowly as they walked through the amusement park, heading west once more. Both Minseok and Yixing held hands tightly and nodded in understanding. Minseok knew nothing of why the soldiers were there; there was no way the soldiers could have followed them all the way to the carnival.  It was scary to see where this was leading and Minseok wasn’t sure he was ready to find out the purpose as to why.

 **○** ✣ **○**

_“Did your mother.. Give you that?” Asked the small and drained voice of the patient. He was strapped to his special table with thick tubes running in and out of his arms. An oxygen mask placed on his mouth with several vital machines hooked up to the sides of his bed in the middle of the room._

_“Yes she did.” The doctor looked up from fiddling with his watch._

_“It’s beautiful.”_

_“Thank you.”_

_“You’re beautiful.”_

_“Are you alright?” The doctor stood to his feet and slowly made his way to the patient who was suspended almost completely vertical._

_“As alright as I’ll ever be.” He started to cough and hack a black liquid into the oxygen mask, the vitals starting to beep sporadically._

_“What do you see right now?”_

_“A beautiful man… Before my eyes.”_

_“He’s hallucinating…!” The doctor yelled as if to put on a show, calling in other doctors to stop the body from falling into cardiac arrest._

_…_

_“How are you feeling?” The doctor stroked a loving hand on the patient’s forehead._

_“Better..” The patient said with a groggy tone._

_“It’s been a while since we last saw each other. You look like life was finally breathed back into you.”_

_“Well.. I had an angel that kept me sane.” They stayed silent. “You.”_

_“The board has told me that we will stop all tests on your body, that’s why you’ve been off for two days… Incubation will start as soon as possible.”_

_“Ah. I see. Just when I thought we were getting to the good part.”_

_“Will you be okay enough for the incubation?”_

_“I mean if I have sex at least one more time, watch a movie and get a homemade meal. I think I’ll be fine.”_

_The doctor simply stared at his patient._

_“Is that your final wish?”_

_“Well I mean.. Maybe… I guess.”_

_“I’ll see what I can do.”_

**○** ✣ **○**

“It’s at least a week’s worth of traveling if we try to go around the city. And at most a three day journey through the city. I think our best bet’s to go through it. When did you say the trains would stop running?” Jongdae looked over to Yixing for the answer.

“Big sister said the last trains would be during the first snow falls.”

“And who knows when that will be without a weather guide. So our best bet is to go through the city.” Jongdae said as he tried to persuade the doubtful man in front of him.

Minseok was severely skeptical about the city as they stood just outside the outskirts of it.  Flocks of birds flew out of the giant buildings in front of them, signaling a sense of abandonment from the city.

“We need food… We have no choice but to go through it.” Minseok said more to reassure himself.

“We’ll try to get as far as we can today and find a building to stay in for the night.  I bet the closer we get to the inner part of the city, the more supplies we’ll come across.” Jongdae stared at the big city, unafraid of anything that it had to offer.

“Yixing? Come on.” Jongdae held his hand out for the small one to grab.

The sun was just about to set.  It was late in the evening but the sky was painted bright in hues of gold and red, leaving a bright glow on each individual window that faced the sun.

Minseok was so apprehensive toward the city that he hadn’t even realized Jongdae and Yixing were a couple feet away, until Yixing’s voice called him to his senses. That morning, when they left the amusement park, Jongdae hadn’t spared him glance. There was still heavy tension in the air between them and Minseok cringed at the feeling. Yixing was quiet. So quiet that he regretted ever having found the boy that day so many weeks ago. The child was going through trauma that no child should ever have to bare. And there wasn’t a sense of reality that Yixing would come out _‘all there’_ if they survived any more of the war.

The sun set closer and closer to the horizon as they entered the city. There was something that hadn’t quite screamed abandoned as they walked through. Lights still flickered in buildings and the occasional personnel ran across the street as if their dear life was at stake. The once great city of Saeford was practically dead, but not as dead as both Minseok and Jongdae expected.

The people that still dwelled in the city were Hevin. That was something Minseok caught on to as he listened to the whispers come from the people inside their buildings. People covered their windows as soon as Jongdae or Minseok would look up, shunning the trio away.

It wasn’t until the sun was so close to being gone that the two decided it was best to find shelter in one of the apartment buildings. They hoped there would be an apartment opened or a family willing to let them stay for the night as they entered the staircase to lead them up.

There were more people inside than they expected. Hardly any kids were around, mainly adults that stuck in packs, making entire floors their living quarters. Doors were removed from their respective frames, leaving all apartments open for anyone to walk in through. Jongdae found it to be an odd thing, but Minseok knew the reason why it was like this. The Ethrean soldiers did this to regulate the Hevins in the main cities. They were tagged and kept a heavy eye over the deeper the war got. It was a means to easy access if further genocide was needed in the larger cities.

A middle aged man was kind enough to let the traveling trio into an abandoned apartment on the third floor. The only reason why they were allowed into the building was because they each spoke their language. The Hevs knew all too well that Jongdae and Minseok were Ethrean, but they could sense the desperation about them. It was a commonality they all each shared.

There was a perk to being in the apartment; running clean water and working electricity.  Even though it was barely enough to function, it was more than anything they could ever ask for.

Jongdae took to a shower first as Minseok took to the kitchen area.  A family of four had provided them with a box of provisions, enough to last the night and half of tomorrow’s journey. Minseok was so thankful that he hugged the man and woman of the family and ruffled their children’s hair. But he couldn’t help but notice how lifeless the family was. They were thin and frail, much like Yixing once had been. They weren’t as thin in comparison to their first run-in with Yixing but it was enough to know that they were a struggling family. The small girl wore a flowered dress that was worn down to the last grain. The color had all been washed out, leaving a dull yellow and her hair was held back in a single long, dark braid. The son who seemed just the rip age of fifteen was small in stature but broad in hate. It was obvious that he didn’t want to share the food, but the sight of Yixing was enough to put him at rest. And the parents were just too forgiving. Despite their rugged looks and defeated demeanor, there was hope.  A shard of hope for a new day. A better time full of love and comfort. It was a time of the past that they held onto to keep them moving forward and Minseok knew all too well of that feeling.

Dinner was canned beans with chicken noodle soup to accompany them. A single bottle of beer was shared between Minseok and Jongdae as it were the only special thing given to them. But they knew better, the entire box of provisions they received was a specialty in itself.

Minseok’s turn in the shower was done with Yixing. They washed each other’s backs and made sure to clean every inch of themselves. Minseok tried his hardest to smile for the small child, but he found the task so terribly difficult.

Yixing was put to sleep in the room over from the kitchen—Minseok made sure to stay by his side as he fell asleep.  Jongdae was sitting at the kitchen table, staring out the window beside him, finishing the rest of the beer bottle.

Minseok stood in the door way, his arms crossed on his chest.  It was chilly, but Minseok found more than a sense of warmth from his own arms, he felt security. 

“You should sleep.” Minseok spoke up, his throat tense with anxiety. Jongdae however, ignored the command.

Minseok walked over to the man and rested a hand on his shoulder, only to be violently shunned as the shoulder jerked away from the touch.

“Jongdae, list—”

“Goodnight, Minseok.” Jongdae said as he kept his focus on the streets below.

Minseok could only stare with his mouth agape. He knew Jongdae wasn’t going to bed so it was only safe to assume that Jongdae was sending him off to bed, in a rather rude manner.

But he could feel the anger start to boil in the pit of his stomach. He bit his lip and clenched a fist as he stared at the man sitting before him.

 _Will you just listen to me?_ Minseok screamed on the inside.

He turned on the balls of his shoes and stormed out of the room. It was too much to handle for him at the moment and he wasn’t about to let his tears slip in front of Jongdae. Instead, he took a spot next Yixing and curled close to him on the mattress they were granted to use.

 **○** ✣ **○**

_“Tell me… The worst experiment you’ve ever done.” The patient said with an oxygen mask attached to his face and metal tubes linking their way into his shoulders and torso._

_“Really? There’s a list of those… And I can’t say I’m proud of any of them.”_

_“You have to name one.”_

_“Well… Gosh… There’s so many… I’ve tried genetically engineering guns into animals, and tried to create them into domesticated machines. I’ve worked on serums that brainwashed people and caused several test subjects to explode in my hands—be it their brain or head... I’ve created monsters from scra—oh… I know the one case that I consider the worst.” The room grew overly silent, the churning of machines all too loud in the growing tension._

_“I had two patients once. They were twins. One male and the other female—both 13 years of age. And I took them apart… And reattached them.” The doctor gulped, his chest starting to breathe deeply with sweat forming at his temples. “I was playing with the basis of your experiment at the time. I had just discovered the substance or.. Whatever it was. And wanted to test it on the twins. And I created something… So vile.. So… Horrid.. That I still can’t sleep over it… Its knees were bent to the sides and feet flat on the ground. Overly extended arms, growing claws as the possession took over… The worst part about it was that the kids were still in there. Their heads…” His voice cracked. “Their heads were attached in a way so that one was right under the other. And the fear in their eyes was enough to make me throw up… The doctors in the room with me were all killed. That.. Thing. Killed them. It ripped open their throats and drank the blood that seeped out… Before it could get to me, soldiers had come in and killed it long before I could start comprehending anything… I told myself I’d never tamper with the stuff again… But here we are. The results of what I tried perfecting the codes of.”_

_“You did this before?” A sense of hurt immediately overtook the patient._

_The doctor nodded in defeat._

_“You knew I would.. You knew this would..?” He breathed heavily into his mask. “How could you?”_

_“I couldn’t stop looking over the formula! I saw the flaws in the old ones and it was a habit to perfect… I couldn’t help it!”_

_“I killed people! Innocent unsuspecting lives!”_

_“They were hardly innocent…” The doctor looked away to justify himself._

_The patient began hyperventilating. His body starting to shake with anger. The doctor stood to his feet and immediately took to the patient’s side. He ran a hand down the patients face and shushed him to tranquility._

**○** ✣ **○**

“Minseok. Wake up. We need to leave. Now.” Jongdae’s voice brought him from his dreams and to the world with a jolt.

“What? What’s the matter?” Minseok began waking in a hurry, nudging Yixing’s shoulders in the process.

“The city’s under attack. We have to leave. Now.”

Two days into traveling the city was all that it took for the unsettling feelings to finally explode. Minseok almost broke down on the spot with the look of defeat written all over his face.

Just as Minseok and Jongdae were gathering their packs and sheets, several bombs shook the building to its core. Yixing shrieked and quickly ran into Minseok’s stomach, hugging him close.

“Yixing, we have to go. Come on.”

It was late in the night. The moon was gone, no stars lined the skies. Bombs exploded left and right. Screams of innocent lives took the ears of the trio as they ran down a flight of stairs in the east wing to the bottom floor. Their trek into the city led them to the tenth floor of an apartment building, hindering their escape route in the worst way possible.

Just as they were about to reach the fourth floor, a door came crashing down as soldiers came bursting into the stairwell. Screams and gun fire from the hallways below scared Yixing to the point that he froze. Watching the soldiers pour into the stairwell made it no better as his pants became soiled.

Jongdae quickly gathered Yixing in his arms and ran back up a flight to the fifth floor and down the hall. The people on that floor had already started to barricade the door ways, leaving it harder to maneuver throughout the hall. But they made it to the other side just before the soldiers were able to gun them down. They ran down the stairwell on the west end of the building and out a door that led to an alleyway. Jongdae took an immediate left, ignoring the main road at all costs. It was bright with an overcasting orange glow and it hadn’t been the street lights. Fire was taking the city as the bombs went off.

Families and people ran in a scurry. They were all Hevin, running ramped from the soldiers that wanted them more than dead. Above their heads had been gunfire, catching Minseok’s attention away from their path. They were a special kind of militia in the country, a special group of legionnaires called The Wings. They were Hevin people, protecting the Hevin immigrants in Ethrean lands. It wasn’t possible for the Hevin military to protect all of their own people; that was why the faction known as The Wings was created, to protect those who could not protect themselves. There had been a faction stationed in this city and used their height as an advantage to shoot down the Ethrean soldiers that ran by.

These soldiers that invaded the city, however, were different. They were still very much Ethrean, but the sickening white gas masks that they wore was enough to burn nightmares into anyone’s mind.

Every turn that Jongdae took behind the large buildings would lead to another. Soldiers would come down one path leaving only the other path as the next available option. Minseok ran behind Jongdae with all his might through it all, despite the asthma that burned in his chest.

They needed to get out of the city, but it seemed as if every which way they turned had been becoming more and more infested with soldiers. Buildings crumbled behind them as they ran, signaling the tanks that drew too close for comfort.

As Minseok went to turn a corner in which he thought Jongdae took, he was caught in the line of a firing squad. Jongdae had run too far ahead and it was almost impossible for Minseok to keep up. And his luck of guessing led him to the side of a firing squad. Friends and family members cowered and covered each other to hide from the guns while others, knelt with their hands behind their heads, pleading and screaming at the top of their lungs to be let go.

Minseok froze, not really processing the moment that he was about to be shot down after losing Jongdae and Yixing from his sight.

The descending words from the captain took to Minseok’s ears, the countdown to his demise just milliseconds away.

Suddenly, an arm grabbed him by the collar; without it, Minseok surely would have been murdered. 

His body tumbled backwards into Jongdae’s broad chest, backing into the alleyway.

“Jongdae!” Minseok finally managed to say as he started to realize the situation.

“Stay on me!” Jongdae angrily said as he violently brought Minseok closer to his face. He let him go and started down the alley again, ignoring the gunfire and screams of the women and children just behind them.

The welling anxiety in Minseok’s stomach was at its max.  He could feel the sensation tense at the bottom of his throat as he ran just behind Jongdae and Yixing.

Yixing was quiet, his face tucked away closely to Jongdae’s neck to prevent himself from seeing anything he did not wish to see. Minseok only wished he could do the same.

But time would not stand for Minseok, a couple of soldiers had spotted the trio run across from them down the alleyway and immediately followed in suite. Jongdae had long gotten rid of his pack to ease his weight with Yixing still in his arms. But it still wasn’t enough to get away from the soldiers that followed. These soldiers were persistent. They used their firearms to slow them down, only missing by a hairs length at each body part they aimed at. Jongdae and Minseok were just glad that they weren’t carrying anything that had rapid fire.

Before either Minseok or Jongdae knew it, they were trapped in a dead end. It was their only option to turn down the alleyway that held a large brick wall on the other side. The doors, inconsequently, that led into either building were locked with no window to try from. But before Jongdae could use his legs to break any door down, the group of soldiers had already turned the corner.

Minseok panicked and followed Jongdae, once more, further down the alley, trying to keep as far as possible away from them.  Once they were pressed up against the wall, Minseok was able to clearly see Jongdae’s face, it was turning. His right eye was pitch black and the corners of his mouth were beginning to turn a sickly dark color as well.

“Jongdae! You can’t here.”

“Min, we have no choice.”

“Jongdae, please!” Just as Minseok went to reach a hand out, the sound of a firearm went off. Minseok’s hand met with the back wall and a gasp left his lips.

Before he could comprehend what had happened, he looked up at Jongdae’s face. Only to find it distraught and shaking with whatever emotion was surging through his body as he stared at Minseok’s hand. Yixing was suddenly thrown into Minseok’s body and Jongdae was long gone. Minseok’s knees buckled as he caught onto the boy that was flung into his grasp. His arm shaking violently from the impact of the bullet wound.

Yixing was crying helplessly when he realized he was in Minseok’s arms and curled himself tightly against his neck.

By the time Minseok looked back up to see where the soldiers had gone, only two bodies laid lifeless on the ground. Both were soldiers, pools of blood staining the ground.

“Oh god no…” Minseok breathed as he tried to gain strength back into his legs.

Around the corner he could hear the distant sounds of bodies being slashed and screams from others.

He finally gathered to his feet and held Yixing firmly with one arm, finding it difficult to keep him there as his left hand was completely useless to him. He tried to keep his hand away from Yixing’s body to prevent the blood from staining the boy’s clothes but found the task difficult as he walked down the alleyway.

“Yixing?”

“Yeah?” The boy’s soft voice sounded.

“Can you walk on your own? Uncle’s having a hard time carrying you right now.”

“I can.. Yeah..” Yixing slid down from Minseok’s arm and held firmly onto his hand.

“Thanks.” Minseok smiled as he hid his left hand again. “Look at me okay.” Minseok demanded as they passed by the bodies on the ground. But Yixing knew the soldiers were there, his eyes welling with tears again as they stepped over the bodies.

“Where did Uncle Dae go?” Yixing asked immediately after they were away from the bodies.

“I don’t know. He got rid of the soldiers that were chasing us and didn’t come back.” Minseok said as a shiver went down his spine.

“Come on. We have to keep going.”

And with that, Minseok led the boy in a fast pace down a better path. The main road was free. No soldiers were lining the streets but fires from the buildings acted as blockades and prevented them from going certain ways.

A loud, inhuman, screech took the ears of Yixing and Minseok as they traveled north on the main streets again—this time, stopping them dead in their path. Minseok knew who’s scream that belonged to, and he wasn’t sure if he should go looking for it.

Gunfire and bombs had been mostly focused in the area that the screech came from, making it all too obvious where Minseok had to follow. He led Yixing by the hand to the right and down another alley; following his ears completely to the sound of gunfire and found himself upon another main road. This time, however, the road was the barrier.

To Minseok’s left was his way out of the city. The path that he and Yixing needed to take to get away from this mess, the part of the city that was still unharmed by the threat of death. To his right was the fire of buildings and destruction of the once great city. Across the street from where Minseok stayed hidden in the alley, was another alleyway.  That alleyway led to an opening where he could clearly see the other end of.

There he was. A soldier in one hand and a weapon in the other. The figure was giant and black—screeching that inhuman scream with its mouth wide and teeth showing more than fangs.

Soldiers were firing everything they could, rockets and heavy rapid fire machinery. Yet nothing was doing the trick, other than backing the creature away from Minseok’s view.

He panicked and searched the street for any sign of soldiers. All he found was a small girl instead, the one with the flower dress, holding the hand of a small boy. The boy was younger than Yixing, much too small to be the same age. She was too far from Minseok for him to call after as she ran across the street to reach the other set of buildings, but it hadn’t stopped Minseok from trying.  The little girl and boy were so small and dark against the fires to their sides, running from the roaring inferno they once called home.

Minseok stepped out from the alley and was about to yell with all his gusto when from his peripheral of the fires he started to see a line of soldiers. They were walking down the street with firearms against their chest and heavy machines a couple lines behind.

The girl had long disappeared before Minseok could call back out to her, making him shrink back into the alley—hiding from the hoard of soldiers. He and Yixing were in a tight spot—he had no idea of where to go from there.  He couldn’t run anywhere in the street, it was too risky if he didn’t want to get shot at. But he needed Jongdae. He needed to get his attention and bring him back.

Minseok’s prayers were answered when the building to the right of the alley across the way came crashing about. The bricks of the walls went in every which direction, smoke clouded the ruins as it fell and exploded in a mess of wood, brick and metal.  The building fell into the street, blocking most of the path from the soldiers.

Minseok turned his back on the explosion and hid Yixing from the rubble. Smoke engulfed the air and made a coughing fit of the two males. But when Minseok finally turned around to look at the building, he could make out the outline of a lone figure.  It was tall and wide, blacker than night and lethargic with pain. It dripped of blood, wounds covering it in all sorts of ways.  Minseok’s heart began to race, nerves exploding with anxiety.

Long arms draped down, claws sharp at the ends and fangs larger than a scythes razor. Something began curdling at the backside of the creature, bubbling with an uncanny air to it. Soldiers rounded themselves up and lined up—ready to fire on the beast. The sounds of war in the background could barely cover the sounds of growling from this beast. It roared as two very large wings sprouted from its backside and horns grew from its head.

Certain soldiers scrambled to their feet in fear and ran, only to be shot down by their leading commander for leaving the battle field. 

“Jongdae…” Minseok whispered oh so softly, even Yixing could barely hear him.

But it was enough, enough for the beast to look behind with a whip of its neck.  Piercing eyes bore into Minseok’s skull, freezing everything in his body. Yixing whimpered again, soiling his pants one last time. The beast looked down at the child and tilted its head in a sickening manner. Minseok waivered and clenched his hold on Yixing, bringing the boy closer than before. The beast in response started to make its way over to the pair, stalking them in a twisted fashion.

“Fire!” A commander yelled in his low raspy voice. Immediately, gunfire and rockets were opened.

The beast screeched once it was hit. It spread its wings and roared fiercely, jumping into the sky and down into the soldiers below. Minseok ran out into the street on instinct, yelling after the beast as it slashed and gnawed at the soldiers.

As the soldiers fell one by one, Minseok stood in the middle of the street holding Yixing close to keep him from watching the slaughter. Despite the hundred to one ratio, it was an unfair fight to that hundred. They fell left and right, giving all they could as fear took over their bodies, watching their comrades’ necks open and jaws dislocate without trouble.

“Jongdae! Stop!” Minseok yelled again. His face only capable of one expression of hysteria. Tears poured down his face reddening his cheeks, his lips parted slightly trying to keep air flowing through his means of life.

Minseok went to let go of Yixing and head for Jongdae when a group of soldiers started sprinting down the alleyways next to him. Both sides were being overrun with soldiers and the sight made Minseok run with Yixing hand in hand. He ran towards Jongdae, mainly to hide in the rubble of the fallen structure; only to be shot at before he could so make it.

The beast paused, after annihilating the soldiers that had all lined the street. Their bodies now decorated the ground in a coat of crimson, slick and warm to the touch. His attention was drawn to the screaming child just a few feet away from him.

Bullets sprayed at the beast, not caring who was in the way. Minseok and Yixing were caught in the middle of that fire, trying to escape a doom that seemed almost inevitable.

As Minseok quickly hid behind an overly large piece of rubble, metal sprigs sticking out in every way, a bullet grazed passed his cheek. The bullet cut through his skin, enough to need to bandage, but the pain was nothing to Minseok.

The beast had flown overhead and started its massacre on the second set of soldiers. Minseok and Yixing were, this time, blind to the view—only left to the sounds of screaming men and the casual diminish of gunfire.

Yixing was pressed up against Minseok’s chest, securely wrapped in his arms—ears covered and eyes shut tight.

It was only a couple minutes, but it was the longest couple of minutes that Minseok or Yixing had ever experienced in their lives.

Behind them, it was finally quiet. There were no more sounds of gunfire, only the distant rumble of bombs and machine guns in other parts of the city. A loud speaker had gone off at some point, distant in the city as a man’s voice shouted propaganda out at the people who used to call the city home.

The sound of rubble underneath footsteps caught Minseok off guard. His stomach began to flip with nausea, he was frightened. He wasn’t sure who he was going to meet and it made it even worse as the footsteps came closer.

The footsteps seized. Everything went completely silent before the figure got any closer. Minseok frantically looked around, trying to search for the figure before it made its appearance. However, before he could reach a hand out to grab for the nearest object to use as a weapon, two strong feet landed on the pile of rubble in front of him. 

Both he and Yixing jumped in fright. Daring to look up at the figure.

Minseok took in every last image of the figure. It was different this time.  It was still covered in seeping blood, but it was the closest thing to human that it had ever been. Its pants were torn and shoes were missing. Its shirt was torn in every which way, covered in bullet holes and blood stains. The sleeves were torn off, reveling pale upper arms and pitch black forearms—claws dripping with blood, all too similar to the color of pitch black. Marks scorched up the figure’s neck, leaving its face half covered in black. Canines much too large for the human mouth left the figure to breath heavily.

The face was all too familiar, all too much like the man Minseok once loved. Horns curved out of his head, blacker than an abyss leading to nothing. His eyes were cold, and yellow—flickering between the black that so desperately wanted to come through.

Minseok was so engrossed in the figure that he nearly missed the giant black wings that followed behind it. They were almost feathery looking, dripping with the blood of his wounds.

A haze rested in his eyes as he stared at the two males hiding in the rubble.

“Jongdae?” Minseok asked in a low whisper as he tried to sit up straight. Yixing refused to look anywhere, keeping his head buried in Minseok’s chest.

“Oh my.. Ho my goodness. Jongdae..” Tears fell fast from Minseok’s eyes as he mumbled to himself.

The figure simply stood there, staring at the two, watching their every move as it held an arm.

Minseok leaned down to whisper in Yixing’s ear, and slowly removed the child from his chest. Yixing in the process got off and nuzzled under Minseok’s arm as he forced himself to stare at the frightening person before him.

Minseok held his hand out, reaching for the man he loved dearly.

“Jongdae… Please… Come back to me. Come back to us.”

The half human stared at the bloodied hand, not making a move to grab it.

Off in the near distance, soldiers began yelling once more. They were coming from down the street of the inner city, ready to start a new wave of attacks.

“Jongdae please, you must come quickly. We have to leave now!”

The figure looked back at Minseok, the haze still prominent in his eyes.

He shook his head slowly.

Minseok’s heart dropped.

Any emotion that neared with anxiety, fear, hate, love or pain had vanished from his being. Everything was void from his face. He felt nothing, not even the disappointment that should have been surging through his body.

He knew what that meant.

This was the end.

This was the last time that the two would see each other.

Jongdae was so far gone that it was near impossible to bring him back this time.

He was poison. There was no way he would ever be the same.

Just as soon as all emotion left Minseok’s body, had one come flying back in.

Jongdae reached a hand out; trying to hold onto Minseok one last time.

But the soldiers were coming fast, relentless in their pursuit.

Minseok gathered Yixing quickly. He stood to his feet and held Yixing firmly by the hand. He knew what he had to do. He had to continue the journey alone. To look after Yixing on his own.

“Yixing baby, we have to go now.”

“But Uncle Da—”

“Come on.” Minseok pulled Yixing away from the broken building and ran down the street toward the part of the city that had been untouched.

Before Minseok decided he could never look back, he turned one last time.

Muttering three words against the breeze and ember filled air.

 

_I love you_

**○** ✣ **○**

_“What if I wasn’t perfect? What if I was just an average man? Would you use me then?”_

_“Most likely not. We had several people in line who offered themselves for our experiments and several Hevs who fit the criteria. But what better use than to have one of our own to use?” His words were honeyed, laced with a trace deceit._

_“Then what if I was female?”_

_“We would not choose you. There were no records of female bodies strong enough to withstand the estimated incubation we conducted. And we need all the females to stay and produce soldiers for the future.”_

_“Ah doctor. It never seizes to amaze me how good you are with your patients.” An elderly doctor, with clipboard in hand, said as he began his exit._

_“Positive reinforcement with our patients is most important Doctor Seo!” The man smiled. “If they have healthy mental states of mind, then I think they’ll overcome anything.”_

_“Of course.” Doctor Seo agreed with a chuckle. “Then, as you were doctor. Have a good evening.”_

_“The same to you, doctor.”_

_Once all the other doctors left the chamber, the one left sat in a wheeled chair next to his patient._

_“You so sit on a throne of lies.” The patient smiled playfully._

_“Quiet you. Only partially. What I said to you is_ mostly _true.”_

_“Then why do you always look so drained after you’re done talking to everyone besides me?”_

_“Because… You’re one of the last hopes in the world I have.”_

**○** ✣ **○**

“Uncle Min… It’s really cold.” Yixing’s soft voice whimpered as he nuzzled his chin into his coat.

“You’re what?” Minseok stopped in his tracks and knelt down to Yixing’s level.

“I-I’m cold.”

“Baby, why didn’t you tell me?” Minseok’s eyebrows furrowed, he immediately started to take his own coat off.

“I just did.” Yixing’s teeth were chattering, his lips slightly purple from the below freezing temperatures.

“I know sweetie, you should have taken the extra thermals in the last town we were in.” Minseok said as he eased his own sweater off, and quickly started to remove Yixing’s jacket off, carefully avoiding his sore hand.

He started to help Yixing redress in the below freezing temperatures and gave him an extra pair of pants he had stowed in his pack.

“But what about you?”

“What? Oh I’ll be fine, don’t worry.” Minseok smiled as he finished zipping the puffy gray coat on Yixing. “Now come on, we have to hurry up. I think it’s gonna snow later.”

The two took to their path again, still heading west in large fields of dying grass.  Yixing was now covered head to toe in warmth—only his big almond eyes and red nose poking out between his hat and scarf. He was like a walking ball of puff in comparison to Minseok, who was wearing a coat and pair of jeans with thermals, nothing else but a hat and pair of gloves. The only scarf they could find was given to Yixing along with his sweater to the small boy. It was the only way he could feel safe knowing Yixing was warm.

“Are you okay in there? Are you too warm?”

“No, I’m okay.” Yixing’s muffled voice earned a giggle from Minseok who was holding firmly onto his hand.

Minseok lost count, he stopped keeping track of the days as soon as they left Saeford. But he knew they had been traveling for far too long. The days were so cold at night that Minseok often worried they would never find a sheltered place to stay every night. It was worse when there wasn’t an extra body to lay up against and hope for best of three warm bodies.

That night Minseok and Yixing were lucky, they had come across an old abandoned safe house.  It looked as if it had been void of human life for a couple weeks, something recent. But it was perfect for the two to stay in, it had plenty of canned foods, a wood stove and fireplace to live off of; there wasn’t any electricity, but a functioning bathroom still able to use.

A medical kit was stowed away in the bathroom closet, letting a surge of anxious relief wash over Minseok’s body. He wasn’t able to come across any medical supplies in the last town he was in, so this was a much needed visit. All he had to keep the bullet wound in his hand free of infection was a wrapped cloth and running ice cold river water.

Once Yixing’s belly was full of canned cabbage and beef and put to sleep, he took to the bathroom to bear with a long night of pain.

His hand bubbled to a grotesque yellow with the peroxide poured on top of it. The pain was almost too unbearable for him, causing him to huff and silently scream.  The kit that had been placed on the top of the sink was scattered all over the floor along with Minseok’s body. He had fallen to the floor to better ground himself up against the wall and let the pain pass; it surged all the way up his arm, leaving him gasping for air.

But he was fine, after five minutes of waiting for the pain to settle down, he went to work. He put ointment over the wound and wrapped it tightly in a new set of gauze. The cut on his face however, was healing over. It didn’t need the excessive attention that it once needed.

Just before Minseok went to join the small male for sleep, he noticed a couple lights just outside the window. They were bright orange and much too far off in the distance to be considered anything threatening. Minseok hoped it was the train station, he thought he heard the faint holler of a train horn earlier that day and severally hoped that the train station was not over run with Ethrean soldiers.

But those thoughts were for tomorrow, Minseok instead focused on the small boy sleeping below him. He stood over Yixing, fawning over the serene face he possessed under the warm sheets. Minseok knelt in front of him and let a hand roam the boy’s golden hair.

He’d do just about anything for Yixing. Everything he had been doing up to now was all for this kid; and in just a couple days they’d have to separate. He wasn’t sure he was ready for that. He knew he could never follow Yixing to wherever the trains led, but he did know one thing…That he didn’t want to be alone.

Minseok laid down next to the small thing and brought him close to his chest.

He had no idea where the trains would take Yixing. He had no idea if the boy would even find his family. Could Yixing even make it on his own?

It was all so heartbreaking for Minseok, but the decision was yet before either of them. He’d wait for the moment to make the final choice.

 **○** ✣ **○**

_“Why do you hate them?”_

_“Who?”_

_“Hevs, why do you hate them?” The patient asked through his chamber, oxygen mask covering his face and braised in a special green, bubbling water._

_“I-I…” The doctor stuttered and found a loss of words. It was the first time anyone had ever asked him that, he wasn’t’ exactly sure how to answer it._

_“I-I… Just do what I’m told…” Deep in his heart he knew the real answer, even if his physical answer wasn’t that far off. He really_ did _do what he was told—a soldier taking orders from his superiors. He was just afraid of being different, of being the outlier in a world of consistency._

 _“Why do_ you _hate them?” He asked after taking a good long while thinking to himself._

_“They killed… My family.” He breathed, trying to gain words in his mouth. “Took everything from me… Started.. This war… Burned cities… They killed your mother..”_

_“Well… I can’t deny that you’ve been hurt. But have you ever thought that they’re people too? And_ not _just controlled by their ethnicity? And maybe they didn’t start the war. Maybe it was us looking for reasons to start a mass genocide… If you really think about it, we both take away innocent lives… There’s so much to this that we don’t understand..” His voice was low and desperate. “And we just do what we’re told.”_

 **○** ✣ **○**

“Stay close to me.” Minseok whispered to Yixing as they stood in a queue of broken people. They had finally reached their destination—the long awaited train station.

Hevin people stood in the line, suitcases close in hand and families closer. They were all dressed warmly as small white flakes fell silently on top of them. The low murmur of people made the experience less awkward, but with everyone so bunched together in line, it made the air suffocating.

There were Hevins that moderated the line, holding guns strict in their hands. These Hevins were different though; they didn’t carry the uniform of the Hevin military. Their clothes were modern and worn down to the last color, they looked like the Hevin militia, The Wings.

Minseok took note and made sure to keep a careful eye them. They are slightly more dangerous than the actual Hevin military; they take no professional orders from the military, have no sense of remorse and fight passionately for their people.

Minseok was sure he’d be recognized by someone amongst them, though. He understood why he wasn’t recognized by anyone in Saeford, he hardly made any contact with anyone there. That, and Jongdae drew away any attention from him during the Ethrean attack as well.

Minseok’s heart constricted at the thought of Jongdae. It’d been too long since they were separated. He spent almost the last two years focusing all his life to Jongdae, and to have him suddenly gone without so much a goodbye, was.. To put it blatantly, hard. Not knowing if Jongdae was alive made the situation worse. If he was captured by the Ethrean military, then he was sure to have experiments conducted on him and Minseok knew how unforgiving Ethrean testing could go. But Minseok was strong. Strong for the kid with him; sure to never show his faltering heart at the thought of Jongdae. Even if Yixing already knew that Jongdae wasn’t going to come back, it was still important for Minseok to carry the weight of the two older figures in the boy’s life. He would make sure Yixing would be content in the last moments they would share together.

The line was moving slowly. Both were just a couple hundred feet from the actual entrance of the train station; there, Minseok knew, they’d be evaluated before boarding. _There_ he was sure to be discovered, but that was okay. As long as he could convince them to take Yixing, that would be all he needed.

Minseok brought his collar high to his cheeks, covering anything that could be seen.  The men were speaking amongst each other, running back and forth between each manned position. The fear of being discovered started to spread his being, making him become all too aware of his surroundings. Minseok kept a keen watch on The Wings, making eye contact with a couple in the process.  They whispered in each other’s ears, glancing over at the two. It was only a matter of time before they’d walk over and address Minseok’s purpose in line.

Minseok looked down to Yixing who could see nothing through the tall backs of everyone in front of him. He was glad for that, but upset to have to part with the child.

“Yixing.” He called out softly as he knelt to the kid’s level. “I need you to stay here in line for me. Can you do that?” He pressed his hands onto Yixing’s shoulders.

“Y-Yeah, I can. But why? Where are you going?”

“I’m leaving for a bit. But I’ll be right back, I promise.” Minseok left a kiss on top of Yixing’s head. “I’m not exactly liked by most people in the Hevin population, so I’m just going to draw attention away and talk to someone. It shouldn’t take log.”

“I don’t want you to leave!” Yixing started to get teary eyed. Minseok could only imagine what separation anxiety welled inside the small thing. The desperation of always wanting to be with someone, who makes them feel safe. Minseok could feel his throat tense at the thought of Yixing feeling suffocated with trepidation. It was the very last thing he wanted to do, cause stress and unnecessary pain on the small boy. 

“Don’t worry. I’m not going far. I promise. I need you to stay here and hold our place in line. Can I count on you to be strong and do that?” Yixing, although reluctant, nodded and kept his tears inside. “That’s my little fighter.” Minseok patted the top of Yixing’s head and left without another word.

He needed to separate himself from Yixing. It was dangerous enough for him to be around the militia, but to have Yixing there was fatal. Minseok was afraid they would mistake Yixing for the enemy and hurt him in the process; that was why he needed to put distance between the two of them.

He went backwards in line; keeping his face covered to the best of his ability as he shuffled through the hoard of people.  But The Wings were catching on. They started becoming frantic and shouting words to each other. Minseok started to pick up his pace, trying to outrun the men that raced down either side of him. The moment was stacking tension—the pushing and shoving through people, and not knowing if the armed men would shoot or not.  He was creating a worse situation by running, but it was the only thing he could stick to, there was no turning back for him now.

Minseok started to sprint as the men chasing him started to pick up on the situation. As he picked up speed, he ran into a small child and knocked her down to the ground. His heart fell when he turned and immediately helped the girl back up, wiping her skirt off and giving her a broken smile.

Before Minseok could stand back up, his body was tackled to the ground. His struggles and screams went discounted by the men that forcefully tried to arrest him. They kicked at his side and hit his back with ends of their guns, keeping him grounded and unable to fight back. Just as Minseok tried to keep the dirt infused snow out of his mouth, a hard smash knocked him unconscious. The horrified face of the small girl he crashed into, forever burned into his memory.

…

“He’s awake, tell the Guard Captain to put security on tight.” Minseok heard through his fluctuating conscious.

His head lulled around, trying to grasp the format of his new space; heartrate racing through the process. He could hear his heart in his ears as it pounded like a timpani against his chest, overtaking most of his coherent senses.

A torso in a thickly twill woven, forest green jacket with black sleeves came into his blurring sight.  A rough ache poked at the back of his head as he focused his eyes on the figure in front of him.

“Wakey, wakey Ethrean piece of shit.”

“ _Don’t_ , antagonize him.”

“Sorry, sir.”

The voices were all scattered in Minseok’s head, not making sense to what he was seeing with his eyes. He tried to bring his hands, by involuntary action, to rub his eyes and sore head, but found them to be bound in cuffs behind him.

“Hey, look here.”

Minseok looked up with a squint from the lights above.

“What’s your name?” The stranger asked.

Minseok could only stare, almost forgetting his ability to talk. Instead, he turned his head over his shoulder and took in the layout of the room.  The walls were a sickly yellow, ripe with decay from years of service. Posters and maps laid on the walls with a few filing cabinets underneath. Over his right shoulder was a door, dark green with a single rectangular window in the middle; blinds covering it.

“Hello? Over hear, buddy.” The stranger in front of him called out, snapping his fingers in the process.

Minseok, however, kept over his shoulder, looking for the second person in the room. He turned over to the other shoulder and noticed the desk behind the stranger in front of him. It was green and old fashioned in its metal work. But as he turned his head to the complete left, another body was leaning up against a metal double door cabinet. The figure was slim and very stunning, refined in his stature, and young. Much too young to be the one in charge, or so Minseok thought.

“Hey! I’m talking to you, cat face!” Minseok turned to the man in front of him and furrowed his eye brows.  He looked back at the man leaning against the cabinet and tried to distinguish his uniform a little more.  He was wearing the same jacket as the man in front of him, but with a badge on his left breast.

“Stop staring at him, and look at me.” The stranger grabbed Minseok by his cheeks with one hand and squeezed hard. But Minseok simply looked over with his eyes to the man leaning against the cabinet. His mouth and head still unable to properly formulate words.

“Let him be.” The man called out and pushed himself off the cabinet.

“Sir?”

“I’ll take it from here.”

As Minseok’s face was let loose, he fell back against his chair, keeping a careful watch on the stranger most hostile to him.

“Why’d you keep looking at me?” The new stranger asked. This one had black hair in comparison to the brown of the other. It was long enough to almost cover his eye brows.

“Answer him.” The brown haired one called out rather firmly when Minseok didn’t answer.

“What’s your name?” The black haired one asked.

Minseok stayed silent this time, now coherent enough to choose silence. It was an interrogation, and he wasn’t about to let out any information he shouldn’t, without knowing who these men were.

“He’s gotta be deaf, sir. Or at least a mute. No one’s this stupid.” The brown haired one spoke.

“Quiet. There are plenty of reasons he’s choosing not to speak. And one more outburst from you will get you kicked out of this room.”

“Sorry, sir.” The brown haired one backed away and took his silence.

“Let’s try this again. What’s your name?” The black haired one asked in a different language this time, it was Ethrean.

“Tell me who you work for and I’ll tell you my name.” Minseok finally rasped out.

“So he lives, and speaks Hevin, too.” The black haired man’s face lightened as he leaned back against the desk. “But it seems we might have a problem.” The man looked to a small globe resting to his right and began to fiddle with it. “I’m afraid I can’t share that information with you.”

“Then we _are_ going to have a problem.”

“I’m afraid so.”

The room turned silent, tension floating tight in the air.

“I really don’t want to have to do this the hard way.” The black haired man sighed.

“Then just tell me who you work for and we’ll call it a truce.”

“How about, you tell me who that little boy is.”

Minseok’s heart skipped a beat, his eyes flickering with fear for a split second. “Wh-what little boy?”

“Oh so you don’t know him? Great, Lieutenant?”

“Yes, sir?” The brown haired man stiffened and saluted his superior.

“Go tell his guards to wake him up. I think he’ll be surprised to find himself hanging by his toes.”

“Wh-what little boy?!” Minseok jumped in his seat and frantically looked between the two men. Hanging a person by their toes was a typical thing Hevin military personnel did to their captured. It caused many deaths to prisoners of war of Ethrean blood.

“Oh, just the little boy dressed in an oversized sweater and grey coat. And… Blonde hair, which is a peculiar thing, I’ve never seen naturally blonde hair on a Hev… He had insisted on seeing his uncle before he passed out, though. You guys don’t look very similar at all so we’ll just go ahead and interrogate him.”

“Yes, sir!” The brown haired man saluted and started his exit.

“Wait!” Minseok yelled, near frightened to death. “Don’t you dare touch him. Don’t you dare touch a hair on his head.” Minseok seethed through his teeth.

“Oof, sorry bud. He’s been touched alright. I don’t have much control over what my men do when I’m not there. And I can guarantee you they’re not exactly the nicest guys out here, if you’re… Catching my drift.”

All color drained from Minseok’s face. Heat started surging in waves from his core, a single feeling replacing all physical pain and mental emotions. His chest started to rise with intensity as he breathed through his nose. Minseok stood to his feet, clenching a jaw in the process and forgot his inability to use his hands.

The black haired man went on alert, he called in his guards and tried to restrain Minseok before he could get any closer to him. The guards tazed Minseok, making him fall to the ground on his face and knees, hard, on the tiled floor—no hands to break his fall.

The black haired man sighed and crouched in front of Minseok’s face, mouth drooling and eyes blood shot from the electrical waves still slightly surging through his body.

“See, I didn’t want to have to do this.” Minseok only stared at the man from what his eyes would let, the rest of his body still tingling with the voltage. “Now… What was your name again?”

Minseok tried to find enough in him to talk, struggling to do so. “Gim.. Me… The.. Boy.” He finally breathed.

“That’s _not_ what I asked.”

Minseok’s body was lifted up and sat back down in his chair.

“Now, men! Go round the kid up. Let’s see if our capture here likes to watch children suffer at the hand of others.” The men started to exit the room.

Minseok grumbled at them. “Stop! Just… Please. Leave the kid alone. He has nothing to do with this. Do whatever you want to me. Just let the kid go!” Minseok managed to breathe his thoughts out, despite being so physically drained.

The black haired stranger thought for a good long second, halting his men in the process. Making everyone in the room rather confused about the situation at hand.

Just before anyone could ask a question, the black haired man ordered everyone out of the room.  Minseok sat there alone, tears falling from his eyes in the process. He wasn’t much thinking, but the events just now were enough to make his body react on its own. He felt empty, void of everything from not knowing what was happening to Yixing.

Minseok closed his eyes tight and bit his lip, praying all too hard to switch bodies with Yixing. To let any pain being received by the small one to transfer to himself.

During his moment, the door came crashing open. Two men walked in, one with a limp boy in his arms and the other holding keys to his encasing cuffs.

“Don’t try anything stupid. Fucking Ethrean.” The man with keys spat out.

Minseok couldn’t care less for what they said to him, all he focused on was the boy now cradled in his arms and fast asleep. He took to the ground and sat there, fawning over his baby boy. Minseok nearly wanted to cry from happiness just to see the boy okay. Especially when he did a quick check for any injuries, he was glad to say that the boy was fine.

“Yixing? Yixing baby, wake up.” Minseok cooed softly as he tried to wake the boy. Poking and gently shaking his shoulders to do so. But the boy wouldn’t budge. Minseok frowned and hoped that the boy was only like this from passing out.

Just as he was about to take the boy’s pulse, the door opened again. This time it was the black haired man carrying a boy only slightly smaller than Yixing. They took a seat in front of Minseok and Yixing, enough to keep a comfortable and safe distance. The boy was clinging himself like a monkey to the man’s neck—very shy in his manners. The other boy refused to look at Minseok and Yixing, as if he were too afraid to look at anyone else but the neck of the black haired man.

“This is my son.”

Minseok stiffened, not really sure how to respond to the phrase. He wasn’t exactly happy for the two, but it would have been outrageously rude to flat out say, _“and?”_

“You must be proud.” Minseok forced out as the only reasonable response.

“He’s my adoptive son. We’re not blood related and we’re not legally bound. But emotionally attached.”

Minseok held his breath, knowing all too well where this conversation was going. He nodded to keep the conversation flowing.

“I saved him, three years ago. I was still only a legionnaire at the time, doing my duty to protect my people. My squadron, at the time, was escorting a group of people to Naechural to get away from the war… And I think you can only guess how that went.” The black haired man ran a smooth hand through the boy’s raven hair. “His parents were taken right from his very hands, along with twenty other innocent lives and eight strong men and women protecting them… I snatched him up the first moment I could, and retreated immediately… We barely escaped with our lives that day.” The black haired man kept his focus on the boy in his arms, not sparing a glance to Minseok.

The boy, Minseok noticed, started to tense. He was getting anxious and the black haired man immediately noticed, rubbing a hand on the child’s thigh to calm him down.

“We’ve been together ever since. I would not part with him then, and now.. I can’t part with him.”

Minseok simply stared, not sure where to start in his conversation. He still wasn’t sure who this man was and how much he should tell, but when the children were in the room, it was as if a whole new world was opened.

“Then how could you so easily torture a child, of your own race?” Minseok finally breathed out.

“We didn’t. I was just trying to get you to speak.” Minseok visibly relaxed.

“His name is Huang Zitao.” The black haired man focused his attention to Zitao.

Minseok smiled at the name, he wasn’t sure why but the child was slowly starting to become appealing to him.

“Zitao? How lovely. A small and beautiful fruit…” He mumbled to himself. “They say peaches symbolize the essence of life.”

“And they’re quite right about that. Despite that this little guy has seen so much more than I have, he still brightens my day. I think about him constantly, wondering if he ate his lunch or dinner when I’m not there. Wondering if he studied his vocabulary, or if he took a shower. I wonder if he’s safe when I leave him alone or if I should have him tag along. There’s not a moment that I don’t think about this guy.” The black haired man was sentiment, rubbing his chin in the boy’s hair. “I only want him to be safe… No child should see what he has seen.”

“Do you mind…?” Minseok asked as he gestured toward the boy.

“Not at all.”

“… Huang Zitao?” The boy nervously looked over to him a flash of a golden necklace catching Minseok’s view. “Hi there.” He smiled softly, not forcing anything to come out, only the natural response he had for the child. “You have a beautiful name.” The boy turned away and nuzzled into the black haired man’s neck, his face red in embarrassment. “How old are you, Zitao?”

When the boy didn’t respond, the black haired man leaned down and whispered a few words in the boy’s ear, smiling as he did so. The boy, in turn, turned around and held up his fingers—showcasing eight small digits.

Minseok gasped playfully, “Eight? Wow! You sure are a big boy.” The boy immediately turned away and clenched even harder onto the black haired man.

“I’m sorry, you’ll have to mind him. He doesn’t take well to strangers.”

“I don’t blame him, not one bit. This guy here doesn’t do well with strangers either… They’ve seen things in their short lives that we haven’t. They know things about life that shouldn’t be known… And yet here they are, bearing with everything… Too young to understand concepts of depression, suicide, PTSD and any other mental disorder. They just deal with it, because they’re so young.” Minseok spoke more to himself as his eyes rested on Yixing’s soft features. “…His name’s Yixing. Zhang Yixing… ‘Nn-found him in the woods.  Just outside Talnae.  His sister was on the ground, dead. Most likely from starvation. And then this guy comes running at-n-me with a stick, hitting m-me with all his might.” Minseok chuckled to himself, reminiscing on the memory. “Eventually we got to know him. He told us how he was following the Underground Railroad with his sister after escaping a prison camp... After we buried her we got him to come take a bath with us. We were looking for a river to wash in and somehow got him to stay… Then we offered to take him to his destination.” Minseok’s voice began to waiver. “…We said we’d protect him and provide food and bed for him…” His eyes began to redden with tears. “And that’s where now has led us.”

The black haired man stayed silent, watching as Minseok softly stroked the boy’s cheek with his thumb.

“Offly cold out to be going for a bath in a river right now.”

“This was a long time back. At least three months.” Minseok sniffled, trying to compose himself.

“…And this.. ‘Us’. Who was the other person?”

Minseok visibly froze. Not at the fact that he’d let that kind of information out, but at the name that danced on the tip of his tongue. He could feel his heart shattering into a thousand pieces as all emotions towards the missing male came flooding back.

Minseok began to shake, his nerves starting to become uncontrollable as the past fired throughout his thoughts. The room was silent as he tried to recollect himself, looking for the right words to say for a very long while.  Even Zitao looked up from the black haired man’s neck and wondered what had been taking so long.

“… I think you know the answer to that already.” Minseok managed out.

“I need confirmation of that information before taking further precautions.”

Minseok looked back down to Yixing’s calm features. An overwhelming feeling of truth bubbling within him.  He couldn’t hide it anymore, he couldn’t lie. Not in the presence of Yixing.

“I will tell you who I am. Just please… I beg of you please, just don’t hurt him. Let him take the train.” Minseok pleaded, connecting his eyes with the black haired man in the process. The man nodded after a moment’s thought.

Minseok breathed in a shaking breath, “My name is Kim Minseok. Previous Lieutenant Colonel of Unit 424, Faction 1. Head doctor of Project F.A. Lead scientist of human research and chemical studies.” No lie left Minseok’s mouth as he stared into the stagnant face of his baby boy, tears silently falling from his face.

“My name is Han. Lu Han. Head of this facility and Section Greenburg of The Wings. I oversee all operations here at the Railroad. I make sure that my people are safely escorted out of the country by _my_ authority. I have no affiliation with the Hevin military. We run our own game here.. And by order of Commander Fan of The Wings, I hold you under arrest until further notice.”

Minseok hadn’t even flinched, not caring in the slightest that his life was practically forfeit at this point.

“… I have to ask this next question.” Lu Han wasn’t aggressive like most of the members of The Wings. There was something sincere about his words and actions, despite his tone of professionalism.

“I have nothing to hide.” Answered Minseok.

“Is this child an experiment?”

Minseok snapped his head up at Lu Han, more than offended by the question.

“Absolutely not.” His frown more than prevalent on his features. “I’ve been on the run for almost a year with no supplies to live off of. You expect me to conduct an experiment on a child while I’m like that?”

“You conducted research and experiments for this war. Your purpose was to destroy my people with a means of being invincible.”

“My purpose was to destroy the Hevin armies with new and improved weapons.”

“And after that, what then? Move next into our country and unleash those weapons on our lands?” Minseok went to speak but had been cut off. “Your people have been set out to annihilate my people from the very beginning. After what they unturned from that facility in its rubble, it was horrifying. All the documents that were found, all the test subjects... You mutilated my people and your _own_ just for the sake of this war. I have no trust of you and what you bring.”

Minseok simply rolled his eyes.

“Of course you don’t.”

“And Project F.A. Where do I even begin with Project F.A? After that city was burned, The Wings went in to investigate but found no traces, no documents of Project F.A.”

“I burned them all.”

“But that still didn’t stop the rumors and horror stories from the patients that escaped. They said it was like you were tampering with black magic. Forcing the substance into patients and watching it takeover their bodies. Project F.A was to create a class of soldiers, strong enough to with-stand bullets and take down anything in their path… That was your task. You were creating monsters, people that could no longer tell the difference between friend nor foe...  One of those creatures that you made destroyed half the town it resided in. Once it got out of the building it killed more than half the population there, all of which were Ethrean.”

“… It wasn’t black magic.” Minseok breathed lowly.

“Pardon?”

“It wasn’t ‘black magic’ that I found… It was something I found in a book, a book that had summoning rituals… In my studies, I captured the essence of whatever it was and watched it take the life of a nearby test rat. The rat transformed into something grotesque and vile, but it listened to my every word… If I wanted it to stop snarling, it would stop. If I wanted it to escape the cage, it did. If I wanted it to kill the other test rats... It did. I wanted to see the effects on other things besides rats and animals after a while of keeping the secret to myself. So I did it on humans… To create the perfect soldier.”

“What did you summon?” Lu Han asked leaning in.

“I told you already, I don’t know. The book was in a language that I’d never seen before and before I knew it I was recreating the illustrations… Nobody knew what it was… We just wanted to work with it…” Minseok only stared at Yixing, refusing to look at Lu Han.

“You ran away with that experiment of yours. Where is it?”

“He.” Minseok spat back. ‘

“Excuse me?”

“‘ _It’s_ ’ a he. And he…” Minseok caught himself, trying to push down his heartache. “I don’t know where he is right now.” Minseok looked back down at Yixing again, swallowing the tears that wanted to pour out.

“You’re telling the truth…” Lu Han sighed out after a moment of silence. “What happened then?”

“I’m sure you would know more than me by now. But the attack in Saeford… We parted there… He… He was protecting us. And went berserk. And he refused to come with us… He couldn’t… I don’t think he would have been able to turn back… I don’t even know if he’s alive.”

“The attack in Saeford? Who attacked you there, what was he protecting you from?”

“The Ethrean military. They must have mistaken us for Hevins. After all, we all look too similar for our own good. You can’t ever tell what we are just by looking at us.”

Lu Han snickered. “Leave it to the Ethreans to misfire.. That attack was weeks ago. Maybe a month ago. Section Greenwich had been in charge of protecting the Hevins that remained there. Their reports were horrific.. A giant black beast single handedly took down the Ethrean military that had been invading the area.. It spared the Hevins there, though.”

“Where is it now? Do you know what happened to that beast?!” Minseok nearly jumped in his spot.

“Nobody knows.  The reports said the beast disappeared long before anyone was willing to set foot on the streets. But it was badly injured. According to the reports it limped terribly, its wings bent out of shape.”

Minseok’s spirit was being drained once more.

“But there was no body found, right?”

“None that was reported.” Minseok fell back in his spot and looked down at Yixing, desperately wishing the boy would wake up. He wanted to get away from the current situation and the best way was to talk to the boy in his arms.

“You know what that beast was don’t you?”

“He was the love of my life. The man I wanted to spend the rest of my life with.” Minseok spoke softly, feeling completely useless in the process.

The room fell silent all again. Somewhere along the way, Zitao found himself seated in Lu Han’s lap. He had been watching Minseok intently, still close to Lu Han’s chest.

“He was the test subject.” Lu Han pieced together, making Minseok flinch with a closed eye.

“Please don’t call him that.”

“A war doctor with a conscience. Now that’s not something you see every day.” They let the room wallow in silence again. Minseok didn’t care though, he was still all too focused on Yixing’s face. “I had a lover, too.. A forbidden love, really.” Han chuckled to himself. “He was Ethrean.” Minseok picked his head up at the mention of ‘he’. “Yes, my lover was a he, too. In this economy though? We were crazy.” Han laughed at his own joke. “We were childhood friends. Even though we were four years apart in age, we were inseparable. And as we grew into the war, we realized we couldn’t part ways… We had to fight to be with each other. Because of all our life threatening situations, though, we finally realized that our feelings were a lot stronger than just ‘best friends’. Why am I telling you this? You don’t need to hear this—”

“No! It’s fine. I don’t mind to hear this at all. It takes my mind away from my thoughts.”

“Well… After the day that I rescued this guy, I took him to our bunker and immediately made everyone fall in love with him. Even Sehun… Oh Sehun.. That was his name.” Zitao looked up at Han, his eyes laced with sorrow for the name. “He fought with us, The Wings. He wanted our people to have justice, he despised that his own people started a world of genocide for us, suffocating my people to bitter particles of nothing. And he loved us fiercely, he loved everything about my people’s culture and life... But love can only go so far… We traveled around, taking this one with us everywhere. He was always safe and out of harm’s way, we always made sure to visit as soon as possible… But one day… I didn’t return with Sehun… This necklace.” Lu Han held the necklace on Zitao’s chest out. “This was his, he gave it to him as a parting gift that day.” Lu Han chuckled bitterly. “Ironic really.” Han looked down at Zitao, his face in a firm pout. “Sehun never made it back alive that day.”

“What happened?” Asked Minseok.

“A raid… We were outnumbered in the attack on Taetul. It was almost certain we weren’t going to make it… I had been shot in the chest, almost positive I wouldn’t make it either, but then Sehun came. He found me and ran me over to our trucks. But in the process, he was shot one too many times. I didn’t even know he was shot once, he never showed any sign of getting hit… Just as I was being lifted into the truck.. He whispered ‘I love you’… Then fell… He was smiling too, as if he was going off to his next duty. But he fell and bled on the spot… Nobody could do anything, we were under attack. We didn’t even have time to take his body with us… And he died there… Alone, and probably scared…”

Lu Han and Zitao had been playing with each other’s hands. Zitao’s small hands were scooped in Lu Han’s, curling and uncurling their fingers around each other’s.

“..I blew out my lungs after that.  I had been screaming so hard as we drove away from him that I couldn’t speak for a whole week after… That’s when I was moved here. After I was healed, I was put in charge of this place. Because of my injury, I wasn’t able to go out into the field anymore… Which was really fortunate, because it was the best way to keep this guy safe… So it’s just been us, getting by together.”  
“And the others! The other soldiers too!” Zitao’s voice squeaked, startling Minseok.

“Yes, and the soldiers, too. We’re all like family here.” Lu Han rubbed his nose into Zitao’s.

“How long?”

“How long what?”

“Have you been here?”

“Roughly eight months.”

Minseok looked back down at Yixing, “It must have been hard… It must be so hard without your other half…”

“To an extent I try not to think about... Besides, I have this guy. And he’s the only thing I need anymore… But I do miss him. I miss him so much.”

Minseok let a hand run through Yixing’s hair and combed it back.

“I think we understand each other all too well.”

“I would say so, too… I’d never bring this guy into a situation like this unless I felt it was necessary.” Minseok nodded in response, understanding the man’s intentions. “That’s why I understand that you _don’t_ want to let him go.” Han motioned to the boy in Minseok’s arms.

Minseok shot his head up, searching the man’s eyes for truth.

“The trains run once a week here. You’ve come on the day it leaves for the week, so you’re lucky. However, I’ve postponed the train due to this circumstance.. I’ll give you ten minutes for the boy to wake up and to make your final decision. After that, I can’t guarantee you anything good.”

“That’s fine.” Minseok nodded to Lu Han as the man stood up with Zitao hand in hand.

Before Lu Han could nod a goodbye, Zitao had tugged on his hand and looked up at him.

“What is it?” Lu Han looked down with a soft gaze.

Zitao looked back at Minseok, motioning that he wanted to talk to the man. Han gave him the okay and kept a firm eye on Minseok as Zitao approached the two on the ground.

Zitao knelt down and placed his forehead on Yixing’s head.

“He’s gonna wake up soon. Don’t worry.” The child spoke with such a soft voice that Minseok had found it all too adoring.

“Thank you.” Minseok breathed out, finding the utmost sincerity in his own voice.

“I was told by a lot of people that you were a very bad man.” Zitao said innocently, earning a dejected smile of agreement from Minseok. “But you don’t seem it. I think you’re very nice.” Zitao smiled and Minseok could feel everything in his will power start to crumble. This small child—the essence of truth—had addressed one of his biggest insecurities, and proved what the world thought of him as wrong. He could do no more than to thank the boy and wish him the best life he could ever gain. And to meet the child again, in a world where they could comfortably be together.

It made him happy to see that a child so hardened by war, still found the smallest shred of life. It was a thing of hope, pure hope that there was a future for their worlds.

Yixing hadn’t wakened until those ten minutes were up, unfortunately. He cried furiously when he realized he was curled in Minseok’s arms and safe from the men that tried to take him away.

That was when Minseok stood Yixing up and dressed him warmly again. He rushed him outside the office and into the train station. There they saw hordes of other people still trying to find their way into the train; it seemed as if the ride was still delayed.

Lu Han’s men watched like hawks over Minseok and Yixing, making sure that he wouldn’t try anything problematic. Instead, Minseok ignored the men and focused all his attention on the boy in front of him.

“Now listen to me.” He knelt down in front of Yixing, trying to put the boy’s zipper on its track. “You get on that train and you find someone your age immediately. Ask to tag along with their family and ask for their help. Ask them to help you look for distant relatives.”

“But what about you? You’re coming right?” Yixing asked, sniffling his nose from the cold air.

“No sweetie. I can’t. I’m not allowed. I’m not exactly really supposed to be here. I’m very much hated by most of these people.”

“But why?”

“I think you’ll find out when this war is finally over.” Minseok smiled as he began fussing with the kid’s hair and scarf, eyes turning red.

“But Uncle Min… I don’t want to go alone.” Yixing said exasperated. The idea of going on the train was making him feel anxious.

“Listen to me Yixing, you have to go. It’s the only way you’ll live decently. You’ll be much safer away from me.”

Yixing’s face started to contort into sobs, he didn’t want this to come, and he didn’t want to have to go without Minseok.

“I don’t want to go anymore. I don’t want to take the train.” The boy hiccupped through his heavy breathing.

“Yixing I’m not gonna argue with you about this—”

Before Minseok could so finish his sentence Yixing’s face had taken a complete change into something pleasantly surprised. The boy raced past Minseok and left him there completely baffled. When he finally turned around, he was met with something he thought he’d never see…

 

 _Jongdae_.

 

The name licking the tip of his lips, looked for a way to capture the sight before him. To hold him firmly in his arms… And whisper three fine words to the world. _Is this real?_

The man was holding one good hand on top of Yixing’s head as the child hugged him, the other in a makeshift sling.

Minseok inhaled quickly and stood to his feet, breathing sporadically from his chest.

 

There he was. The man he thought would be lost forever.

He was disheveled and dirty. His face looked almost completely human except for the small transparent parts that looked faintly like the monster from when they parted.

Yixing had been in conversation with Jongdae as Minseok slowly made his way over. He was timid in his walk, not sure if this was genuine or if he himself was dead. When Minseok was close enough, he heard the voice he so desperately wanted to hear at least one last time.

“If you don’t want to go then I won’t force you to go…” Jongdae said to Yixing.

“See Uncle Min! Even Uncle Dae doesn’t want to make me go!” Minseok put a hand on top of Yixing’s head as he stood just a couple inches away from Jongdae.

“You hear that Minseok? Yixing doesn’t want to go…”

“You’re alive.” Minseok finally breathed out.

“The most alive I’ve been.” He shrugged and smiled.

“I thought I’d never see you again.” Minseok nearly let everything out at that exact moment as he rested a hand on Jongdae’s cheek. His voice just above a whisper. “How are you? Are you hurt anywhere?” He asked scanning a quick eye on Jongdae’s body.

“Just a broken arm. Everything else healed over, but I’ll be fine.” Jongdae smiled softly, his eyes warm with every last bit of love he had to share.

“Good.” Minseok whispered quickly, retracting an arm and punching Jongdae square in the face.

The man fell backwards with a loud thud. Turning the attention of everyone in the station on them.

“What the hell?!” Jongdae yelled, his breath fogging in the process from the cold outside air.

Minseok, instead of responding, jumped on top of the vulnerable man and punched his face again. Minseok was out of it, his face brimming with anger and tears as he held onto Jongdae’s coat.

Yixing was frantically trying to push Minseok off and yelling for him to stop. But it took Lu Han’s men to pry Minseok off; Jongdae hadn’t even dared to budge.

“Where were you?!” Minseok screamed in Ethrean as his arms were held back by the men. “You fucking asshole! How could you leave us like that?! How could you change yourself like that!?” Minseok had been screaming in pure anger, his face red with tears.

“Why are you back, why are you even here?!” Minseok calmed down as his mind started to race with questions of exasperation. “Leave! You have to leave! After I get Yixing on that train, I’m going to prison Jongdae! Who knows what they’ll do with you!”

“I won’t let them take you.” Jongdae said, his eyes red with tears as well. His body held back away from Minseok.

“Don’t—don’t you… Dare..” Minseok managed out through breathy claims. “This is my punishment… I’m wanted, and anyone with me will be wanted just as much.” He stopped his struggling, trying to calm himself down.

“I promise you I won’t let them touch you.”

“Stop fighting!” A small voice in Hevin spoke out between to the bickering two. “Please… Stop..” Yixing had been broken in tears, watching the two men he loved most in the world. He had no idea what they were fighting about, but it was scary to watch.

“Oh baby…” Minseok dropped his shoulders as soon as he looked upon Yixing.

“Let them go.” Lu Han’s voice sounded from the side of the commotion.

“Sir?”

“You heard me. Let them go.” He repeated as he walked up to one of his men and removed his grip from Minseok’s arms.

The men let the two crying males loose, Minseok completely confused at the action.

“Get out of here.” Lu Han said firmly.

“Wh-Why?”

“Don’t ask questions. Here’s your bag, and go. Take the little one with you.” He shoved the bag into Minseok’s chest, grabbing him by the shoulder and pulling him away from the station. “I can’t let you on the train, but I can let you go. No one will know you were here.. Get to Naechural quickly and safely. Your best route is around the Tenmin Mountains, that route has been untouched in the last five years since the war was started. You know, because of the rumors of mountain men and everything, you know how superstitious your people and my own are.. If you _are_ caught on the road, I know nothing of who you people are.” Just as Minseok and Jongdae were pushed through one of the walking entrances, he caught a quick glance of the bulletin board next to it. There were several photos on the board that had wanted signs over them. It was a sort of hit list with X’s over the ones that had been killed in action. “And you would do the same, to show your act of kindness back to us. Don’t tell anyone that you were here, don’t tell anyone that we’ve met. Understand?”

Yixing had been following behind the three men as fast as his little legs could take him, watching carefully for what would happen to his uncles.

“Why are you doing this?” Minseok turned to Lu Han as soon as he stopped pushing them away.

“Mainly because I want this guy out of my station.” He pointed to Jongdae. “He’s a time bomb and I don’t want to see what will happen when he explodes… And because I couldn’t separate a family that just got back together… I put a map inside your bag and some provisions that should help for the journey. Especially for your wounds there. I marked safe houses that are no longer in use along the way, those should do you good. Right now, take the road on the left through the forest, it should get you on a good start. You just need to pass through the mountains within two months. After that, I can’t guarantee you’ll survive the winter weather.”

They spoke in a small huddled group in the snow, swift in their conversation.

Minseok sprung from his spot and threw his arms around a very shocked man.

“Thank you. Your kindness will never be forgotten.” Minseok breathed.

“Yeah, well? Fight for our people and you’ll be shown more of that.”

Minseok shook his head, “I don’t fight. Never again. I side with these two, and these two only.”

“Fair enough… Now go, before I change my mind.”

Without another word, Jongdae and Minseok nodded to Lu Han and left with Yixing close to their sides.

…

“So we’re not gonna talk about this?” Jongdae spoke up as the trio found their path.

Minseok unexpectedly tackled Jongdae to the ground and showered the man with kisses.

“I’m sorry, I’m really sorry for punching you.” Minseok attacked the man at his sides with tickles. Jongdae wailed for him to stop, but only received more. Minseok was so happy that Jongdae was finally back that he let the first instinct to be playful take over.

When they settled down, Minseok and Jongdae took their moment together and stared at each other in the most heartfelt of ways.

“I really am sorry.” Minseok said sincerely this time.

“I know… I am too.” Jongdae tucked a hair behind Minseok’s ear.

They claimed each other’s lips, savoring every second as it were their last. Melting into the moment to remember what it was like to feel each other, to have each other in their arms and safe from the chaotic world.

Yixing, on the other hand, scrunched up his lip and tried not to watch his uncle’s be so very romantic. Minseok didn’t let the action go unnoticed. Instead, he reached for Yixing’s hand and pulled him down.

“Come here you!” Both Minseok and Jongdae began tickling Yixing, blowing raspberries on his cheeks and neck.

Yixing’s high pitched squeals were delightful, making their excruciating pains all the more worth it.

“Are you okay, though?” Minseok asked when the tickling’s had settled and Yixing was squished in between the two males laying on the ground, side by side on the thin layer of snow.

“I think so.. It took me three days to fully gain control over my body, but its still here. There’s not much I can do about it really, but to fight the urge…”

Minseok ran his hand through Jongdae’s tousled hair attentively.

“We’ll get through this. We’ll get you fixed. I promise… I’m glad you’re back, though.” Minseok whispered as he left a kiss on Jongdae’s lips once more.

“Me too… And!” Jongdae sat up and cradled Yixing in his arms. “We get to go on another adventure together.” Jongdae smiled brightly to the two males beside him.

“Actually..” Minseok sat up. “Yixing?”

“Hm?” He responded cheerily.

“How would you feel to spend the next couple of months with us, still?” Minseok asked with a soft smile, but a little cautiously.

“Or… How would you like to spend the rest of our days together?”

Yixing looked between the two men, his eyebrows furrowed with endearment, looking for veracity in their faces.

“Do you mean it?” He asked innocently.

“With all our hearts.” Minseok added.

“I’d love to!” Yixing flung his arms around both their necks and hugged them tightly.

Each of them relished the moment in the small amounts of snow that fell from the sky. Enjoying the feeling of being so close to each other once more.

“Oh! I found you something Minseok.”

“What is it?” He asked eagerly.

“Here.” Jongdae held up a small velvet looking box.  It was much too large to be a wedding ring box, he knew that much. But what on earth could Jongdae have possibly found him?

Minseok opened the box slowly, gasping at the sight.

“Oh Jongdae… It’s beautiful…”

A golden plated watch had been sitting perfectly in the case. Ticking preciously with every second that passed by.

“I know it’s not the one your mother gave you, but why not a golden watch, for the golden city?” Jongdae smiled. Minseok in turn kissed Jongdae’s cheek so forcefully that it almost made them tip over.

“Ah, ah! That hurts!” Jongdae whined as Minseok leaned on Yixing and his broken arm. 

“Thank you.” Said Minseok with a warm, sincere smile.

“Now if we ever _do_ get separated, there will always be a part of me with you. And you have to promise me not to get behind time, always stay with it.”

“Don’t talk like that Dae… Don’t talk like you’re already going to leave… You just got here…” Minseok frowned, the apprehension in his nerves starting to grow.

“We’re a broken family.” Said Yixing thoughtfully.

“Yixing?” Minseok questioned—terribly confused.

“We’re a broken family… And.. That’s okay. Because I know that when I’m with you guys, everything will be okay. And that’s also okay… So we’ll look for a new tomorrow with each other, and spend every day together.” Yixing managed as his fingers played with the backs of both Jongdae’s and Minseok’s hair, his eyes focused on their shoulders. He was so concentrated on finding the right words to say, that his face was so adorably serious to the two males he was talking to. “That way we won’t _ever_ get separated.” Small Yixing may have said those words for his own selfish reasons, of wanting Uncle Dae to always stay and for the three of them to never be separated. But Yixing would never _truly_ know what his words meant to the two older males.

In that moment, both Minseok and Jongdae realized something. The reason why they went through so much pain and suffering in the last couple of months. The reason why they would risk their lives to ensure the safety of this strange, yet perfect family.

This small child, this frail, thin and blonde child was the one thing they so desperately clung on to. The reason why love bound them so fiercely to one another.

He was their symbol of hope; _their little hero_.  

* * *

They say children are the essence of truth. They speak their mind and give no second thought to what their words might mean in the future. If they think someone is fat, they will not hesitate to say so—if they think someone is mean, they will not hesitate to say so. Of course there are exceptions, but there is always a sense of truth and honesty from them. And there’s always something a little wrong when a lie is spoken in the presence of a child.

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> Ahhhh, where to start? Well, how about we start with the story? Did ya like it? Was it weird to read and hard to understand? I think the way I describe things is weird and idk. I really write for myself, I understand everything I'm writing, but idk if others will understand it when I share. I edited this story at least three times before I posted and I know there are still mistakes. 
> 
> Hevin is a play on the word Heaven. I honestly can't remember how I came up with it but I think it started with the slur Hev. I had that as a slur in my head and was like "what can I build off this???" and thus Hevin was born. But then pronouncing it like Heaven was weird, thus "heev-ihn" was born, again. In my head I say Hev as "hehv" and Hevin as "hee-vihn" even though that would been grammatically incorrect. Hev should be pronounce "heev" but that sounds weird so I say, "hehv" lol (idk if you saw the similarity but that's why I made The Wing's called The Wings. They're supposed to represent angels in a sense to the Hevin people, since Hevin is a play on the word Heaven.)
> 
> Ethrean is a play on the word ethereal and mixed with the word Korean, kinda. This was the first word I created for this story and originally hadn't planned on making a second race of people, but it would have only made sense to do that. Naechural is also a play on the word neutral (went through a tough time trying to get a good enough name for it)
> 
> The landscape of this place was based of the video game Half Life 2. If you haven't ever heard of it or played it then that's fine. Imagine a desolate modern world of earth. The idea of the Underground Railroad came from Half Life 2 from the people who were freeing themselves from military control (the military in the game is bad btw-the Combine) The Combine from Half Life 2 have distinct uniforms and voices in the game that were also inspired for the Ethrean military in this story. However, the voices in the game are suggested to be non-human. I was not trying to aim for that, the Ethrean military is very much human-just creepy lol. 
> 
> Many moons ago, I had a dream. In this dream I was a spy who was traveling the world alone bc the entire country I was in was practically abandoned. In my dream I came across an a little Asian boy who was from the enemy side.  He was supposed to be of high status-like rich or something. But the war paid its told on him and he was alone in the woods and angrily hitting me with a stick. But I kicked him to the ground and refused to let the kid tag along. Eventually i let him tag along idk how tho (this dream is very old, at least four years) and we traveled the country to a city that was under attack. There's one scene in this that was from my dream, exactly as I saw it. It's the scene were the little girl runs across the street with a little boy next to her. She's basically a dark figure running across the street and there are fires on the buildings, creating a trench like path behind them. And soldiers stomping their way through the streets to annihilate anything in their path. Idk it's always been a very vivid image in my head, and I feel as if I didn't do a good job recreating it int he story. In the end I was like ''you know what, I never got a chance to make a story about this, I think now's a good time.'' and then this story developed into something I neVER would have imagined lol
> 
> I'm also an aspiring actress, and one thing we've been learning about is how children are very close to capturing the truth. A lot of my actor's work relates to being true to the moment and to our character. All first year of college and acting studies had been teaching me things of that.  I thought it was an interesting thought and really wanted to incorporate it into the story!
> 
> The flashbacks are not in a particular order. Random bits piecing the past together is all.
> 
> The part when Minseok freaked out over Yixing having bone meal on his neck is significant. Concentration camps cremated bodies dead or alive, meaning their ashes usually went up into the air and back into the ground. Bone ash is still found in the ground of abandoned concentration camps-leaving the ground slightly white and has a different texture. Those in the camps were often coated in the ash of the cremated bodies-leaving them pale and such. Minseok knew all too well of what bone meal was, it brought back memories he wished stayed hidden.
> 
> There's also a lot of other little things of symbolism that I put into here but I don't want to get too detailed on those.
> 
> If you have any questions still, please do not hesitate to ask!
> 
> But if you've made it down this far, I just really wanna thank you for reading the story. It does mean an awful lot and sticking out through this chicken scratch of an author's note is amazing in itself too. So thank you so so soso much. It really does mean a lot. ^-^


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